Lusus Naturae
by SaintInfernalNeos
Summary: [Freak of Nature] When Kirigaya Minetaka and his wife Midori found a strange 'pod' in the mountains, they knew they should have walked away. When a confused and weird-eyed little kid came out, the feeling was only doubled so. But...he seemed harmless, and he made their daughter laugh, so really, bringing him home couldn't hurt, right? After all, what's the worst that could happen?
1. Prologue: The worst that could happen

So…here is this thing. Sorry, I know I should be writing the next chapter of Requiem Universus, it's just that, classes have been stressing me lately and I hit a block with some of the scenes. Then, listening to a song yesterday made me think of several movies and weird books I have read, and this idea exploded in my head, so I thought I could write it as my kind of April Fools' gift? Does that make sense? Anyway, so, yeah…here is the thing, hope you enjoy, or something OxO

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Prologue: What's the Worst that could Happen?**

 **January 2nd, 2010. Fukushima, Japan. Somewhere in the mountains, 01:25…**

As the car drove through the mountainous highway, Kirigaya Minetaka couldn't help but sent a small smile towards the half-asleep form of his wife, their baby daughter in her arms.

Midori had been trying to make little Suguha fall asleep for a couple hours now, so it was only natural that she was feeling so tired. After all, taking your 8+ months old baby in a travel 2 prefectures away from your home wasn't exactly the best, easiest or brightest of ideas, but the woman was simply too paranoid to leave her at home with Minetaka's father.

At the same time, though, Midori had really wanted to spend New Year's Eve with her parents, as this would be the first one the old couple went through after the death of his wife's sister and her husband in that accident months ago, something that had deeply shocked everyone.

Putting the grim thoughts out of his mind, Minetaka took a deep breath and steeled himself, ready to keep driving for at least a couple hours more. They would need to drive for the entirety of next day and probably need to stop at least 3 times before arriving back to Kawagoe.

Meanwhile, quite a distance away from there…and under the earth, things weren't going exactly well for someone else.

 **(Primary Containment Facility has been breached. Emergency Systems failing. Warning, for the sake of the environment, all specimens must be destroyed…)**

If there had been any human down there, in the strange and organic-looking 'factory', they would have been unable to understand a thing of what was being repeated endlessly through the audio systems. Even so, for the tall and strange creature that was running through the burning and exploding area, it was like a mantra of insanity, its 6 lower limbs carrying it through the breaking rooms and collapsing hallways as fast as it could, pushing eye-like buttons and turning down limb-like levers in every single place he went through, its 6 red eyes reflecting panic.

He had screwed up beyond all belief, and now he had to hurry if he wanted to stop a potential Extinction Level Event from happening in this Fate-forsaken planet. After all, if even one of the experiments that he had been taking care of down there made it to the surface, it could spell catastrophe for the hairless apes that were the dominant species of 'Earth', and honestly, after almost 60 of their years watching over them killing each other in stupid wars, inventing television, creating works of art, their pathetic attempts at interplanetary travel, writing masterpieces and slowly killing their planet's atmosphere, he had kind of grown fond of them. It was like a live-action series, only everything was real and he got to see it without direct consequences.

…come to think of it, why had they stationed him to make such dangerous experiments in an inhabited planet like this? Yeah, the resources he could discreetly get from the surface helped, but still, his people should have thinking twice before doing secret operations on a planet where…

The creature's train of thought was interrupted when a triple-secured door blocked his way, his clawed 'hands' quickly working at overdrive to input the codes and open it. This was it, the last, and arguably most dangerous, of the specimens he had been tasked with developing and looking over. Every single other one had been already destroyed, but he couldn't risk 'X-K0940' getting to the surface. Even without an actual Programmed Protocol, that thing's abilities would be deadly enough to doom at least the entire country his lab was under at that moment.

Finally entering the room, the inhuman being allowed himself a moment to look at the enormous, almost the size of a truck, tank that rested in the middle of the chamber, directly connected to the ceiling and filled with a reddish liquid. The emergency light made it difficult to see the massive THING that rested inside, but the creature in charge of the facility could almost perfectly imagine the too many eyes, teeth and claws of the experiment, and the times he would be just so creeped out he would electrify the liquid to make it suffer and fall unconscious when he was sure the thing was watching him worki…

Too busy with his musings of his past, the inhuman being wasn't able to see the collapsed piece of organic ceiling that was in his way until two of his legs tripped over it.

With an inhuman squeak, the creature fell forward in a mess of limbs, slamming face-first upon the control panel set before the massive tank, pushing an improbable sequence of buttons by doing so.

 **(Extermination Protocol Engaged. Selective Cleaning of the Planet has been approved)**

Head snapping up, the 6 eyes of the scientist/keeper widened in horror.

 **(Programmed Protocol 666 established on Launch Pod. Loading specimen…)**

Even as he tried to stand up, the tank's ground opened and two halves of something metallic/organic emerged, widened slightly as the red fluid was filled with energy, forcing the creature within to twitch and compress wildly, just enough for the two halves of the small 'pod' to close around it.

"No, no, no, no…! What are the freaking odds?!" screamed the creature while trying despairingly to abort the process.

 **(Releasing Experiment X-K0940 to the planet's surfa…)**

The last instants before the collapse of the lab and subsequent explosion consumed him and that room, just as he saw the tank's ceiling opening and the pod shooting upwards towards the surface, was that at the very least he could trust in the paranoid humans to try their best and kill the thing before it did too much damage.

Then, everything was engulfed by flames and nothing remained.

Incidentally, the explosion reached the quickly ascending pod, barely grazing it, but still enough to damage the systems programmed into it and make it spin out of control through the rock and dirt it had been excavating through.

Seconds later, Kirigaya Minetaka was unable to held back a scream as he gripped his car's wheel for dear life when a thunderous 'Boom' echoed through the mountain road, his wife fully waking up with a squeak and Suguha's small eyes snapping open as she started to cry, the baby's sobs being the only sound filling the dark mountains after whatever that 'explosion' had been ended.

Eyes wary, both adults exchanged a glance before what seemed like smoke coming out from somewhere within the woods, not even a hundred meters from the highway, caught their attention, apparently whatever had exploded being there.

It was more than strange, because just a glance towards the pre-loaded GPS revealed that there shouldn't be anything around that area for kilometers, and Minetaka had seen no signs about any kind of factory or building for over an hour. The most sensible thing to do would have been to call the authorities and then ride away, but…

"Minetaka, what are you doing?!" shouted Midori upon seeing the man getting off the car, even as she tried to calm the crying Suguha down.

"Someone may be hurt!" answered the man as he started a light spring towards the wood, sending one last look towards his wife. "It's okay, I'm just going to check, you wait here in the car and try calling for help!"

Not even a minute later, Minetaka was staring with a mix of confusion and bewilderment towards the strange…thing that was sprouting from the soil some 6 meters before him, in the middle of two trees that had been all but broken upon its explosive emergence.

It was slightly oval shaped, and the size of a big dog, not to mention that it seemed both metallic and…pulsating, as if it was some sort of egg from a sci-fi movie.

The sound of rushing and nearing cries behind him made the man turn around in surprise in time to see Midori gasping towards the object, still cradling their crying daughter in her arms.

"Oh my God…"

"Midori, what the hell?! Get back, it may be dangerous!"

"Ju-just wanted to tell you that I couldn't make contact, reception is horrible here and…what is that?"

"I don't know, but it would be better if we just get the hell out of…"

And that was as far as the man went before some sort of red 'light' exploded from the pod, covering everything in all directions, he and his family included, making them freeze in shock as they felt the strange phenomenon wash over them like some sort of supernatural wave.

For Minetaka, it felt as if _something_ was looking through his very being and analyzing it cell by cell…

The moment was over soon, some strange and unintelligible sound coming from the strange…machine?

 **(G &%hJ9 OkY# *Ho?¿H…)**

Suguha's cries intensifying coincided with the strange sounds suddenly coming aggressively from the strange pod. Like…flesh twisting and moving, and bones breaking and cracking.

 **(Yy &6u6$. 8?=0h. X-K09-.-.-.-)**

The strange sounds were brutally interrupted by static, as if whatever machine was speaking had short-circuited and stopped working.

The 'organic' sounds ominously continued before suddenly falling silent 3 seconds later, though.

At that point, the man would have just grabbed his family and rushed back to his car as fast as his legs allowed him…if he had been able to, as the sudden 'steam' coming from the pod had left him paralyzed from the shock, the thing opening and…

…dropping what seemed like a black-haired little kid no older than 2 to the ground, the boy slamming face-first into the ground and releasing a pained grunt. Behind him, the man heard his wife gasping, almost walking past him towards the fallen kid if he hadn't stopped her by grabbing her hand, still looking warily at the absurd event.

Slowly, almost shakily, the 'kid' stood up. He was…very feminine-looking, but still without a doubt a boy, something that was easy to see thanks to the fact that he was naked. Not to mention that he soaked from head to toe, dripping water (Or something very similar to it), as he stared around with apparent confusion…until his eyes settled over the Kirigaya family.

Midori released a small gasp, even as Minetaka stared with a mix of fear and wonder.

The boy's eyes were two red slits, with his sclera being a golden yellow filled with black veins, but then he simply blinked while his gaze settled on the man, his eyes suddenly perfectly human…and the same bluish-gray color as his, same ones he had inherited from his father and that Suguha had inherited from him. Then, the little kid's gaze turned towards Midori, who hugged their daughter tighter to herself as, with another blink, his eyes turned the same dark black than hers, the unknown boy tilting his head as if pondering something, seemingly not having even realized the impossible change his eyes had gone through. Then, he tried to take a step towards then, making Minetaka tense and be ready to bolt it out of there…

…only for the kid to fall face-first to the ground again, hard. A shaking coming from him indicated either another grunt or that he was unable to stand again.

Blinking, all fear and tension gone, the man just stared in confusion at the scene. What was he supposed to do in this…?

"Mi-Midori, what are you doing?!" all but screamed Minetaka when his wife took another tentative step towards the 'boy', taking advantage of his surprise having made him let go of her, before he quickly hurried at his side. "You don't know…!"

"Ahh…gah…buh…?" turning to the side, the oldest Kirigaya almost jumped in shock noticing that the boy had managed to get on his knees and was now staring at them with a tilted head.

No, that wasn't correct. He was staring straight to the sill crying Suguha in her mother's arms, almost as if wondering what that sound coming from her was.

When the 'little kid' was suddenly beside them and peering towards his daughter, Minetaka not having even blinked when it happened, the man almost pushed him back from sheer shock…before the boy clapped his hands in a childish gesture, tilting his head once again.

Suguha stopped crying, the baby girl blinking while tilting her own head to the side, Midori lowering her arms a little almost subconsciously to let her see the kid just before them.

Idly, the baby reached out with her hand, making a curious sound.

In answer, the unknown boy made the same sound, reaching out and taking the just slightly smaller hand on his, squeezing it softly.

When his daughter started happily laughing, Minetaka realized he had been holding his breath the whole time. Also, the boy was now smiling too, happily laughing and clapping towards the baby before looking up at them and doing the same.

It was at that point that the 'pod' behind them seemed to decide it was a good time to _melt_ , closing the 'hole' it had been protruding from with the process, dirt slightly collapsing to finish the job. Feeling even more tired than before, the man looked once again at the smiling little kid, then at his laughing daughter and at his wife, who was biting her lips and looking from him to the boy before them.

One hour later, Minetaka could already see the first lights indicating they were approaching Tochigi Prefecture, the first towns in the area being quite close. Worriedly, he looked at the backseat, where Midori was now sleeping, Suguha happily snoring in her arms…and the unknown little boy resting beside them.

No matter how one looked at it, this was NOT a good idea.

Then again, it couldn't be _that_ bad…right?

* * *

 _"What's the worst that could happen?"_ – Unknown (Forever remembered as the biggest idiot in the Omniverse).

* * *

Things had been…pretty strange, after that night.

As soon as they arrived home, late the next day, and after explaining to Minetaka's grandfather that they had 'found a kid abandoned in the woods', they had bathed him (Though the boy seemed to dislike water a lot, for some reason), clothed him as best as they could without actual clothes for him and then done the logical thing and called the police to report how they had found a 'missing kid'.

The little boy seemed hardly affected, even if a tad sad (Though really, Midori seemed even sadder at that moment), when the police took him away to the city's orphanage after filing out a report with his description, hoping to find his family or, if this had been the case, who had 'abandoned' him. The married couple knew they wouldn't really find anyone, but obviously didn't say anything.

From then on, almost once a week at least, either he or Midori would go to the orphanage to check up on the boy, who was always ready to receive them with that smile that never seemed to leave his face. Sometimes his wife would even take Suguha with her, and Minetaka noticed that their baby daughter always came home laughing and in a happy mood when this happened.

It took three months before the police called off any active search related to the 'poor boy', who was left in the hands of the system. Of course, no one was really surprised when the Kirigaya solicited to adopt him, and it was not unknown for the people who stumbled upon cases like this to get attached to the 'abandoned kids' they 'rescued'.

During the following 4 months they needed to fill all the paperwork and make the arrangements needed to adopt him, they noticed some of the…'oddities' the kid presented.

First, he ate _a lot_. As in, the orphanage's caretaker was left utterly flabbergasted during his first weeks, when he would eat almost thrice what any other kid did for every meal.

Second, he smiled…and that was it. He never looked sad, or angry, or anything like that. He just kept smiling all day, occasionally laughing about something or another. This, for some reason, creeped out the other children at the orphanage, especially after one of the older ones had tried one day to tell him to stop smiling…and he, who as far as they knew couldn't say a single word properly, had answered him _'Why should I?'_ in the same childish Japanese the would-be-bully was using.

The older kid had then tried to drag him by the hair out of where he was sitting…but the strange boy had just stood there, unmoving, not budging an inch from his place or showing any sign of pain as the other boy pulled his hair as if his life depended on it.

Just. Smiling. All. The. While.

After that, none of the kids made any attempt of getting near him, but once again, the unknown boy didn't seem to mind at all. He seemed contempt with just walking around, eating a lot, and looking forward to when the Kirigaya would visit him.

Then, one day, the little boy was standing beside Midori and Minetaka, Suguha at his side in a small baby carriage and tried to reach towards him while he looked towards the man and woman as they finished filing some paperwork with the caretaker.

"So…I'm going home with you?" asked him with that childish tone of wonder.

"Yes…yes you are, dear." answered Midori while giving him a soft smile, showing him the paper they had been just filling, pointing towards the place where the name of the person in question should be. "I know you can't properly read it, but this here…"

"Ka…zu…to…" mouthed the little boy with a bit of difficulty, surprising both adults and the caretaker. "What's that?"

"…that's your name now…son." answered Minetaka while putting a hand on his head. "From now on, you're part of our family. Your name will be Kirigaya Kazuto."

After all, the man's wife had remembered, that 'Kazuto' had been the name her sister once told her she would give her son if she ever had one. Midori somehow thought it was fitting for the 'miraculous child' they had found.

"Kirigaya…Kazuto…" muttered the newly baptized Kazuto while tilting his head, looking towards Suguha and finally complying to her pleas by reaching out and grabbing her hand, the 1-year-old laughing happily as he did so. "…I like it."

And that was how boy gained a name and a new family…

* * *

 _"Wild animals aren't pets."_ – Unknown (Probably ended up mauled by a critter they grabbed from the street).

* * *

Years passed, and things were surprisingly normal for the new family. Even Minetaka's grandfather accepted his 'new grandson' with open arms, saying he was proud of his son and his wife for being such kind souls towards an abandoned kid.

Minetaka eventually was offered a job overseas and, after much reluctance, took it. The money would do them well, especially now that they were raising two kids, one of which ate over twice what a normal one should.

As time passed, and as she got a promotion in her work, it was easy for Midori to sometimes think that strange night had never happened at all. That Kazuto was just a perfectly normal kid, like any other. One that liked smiling too much, ate a lot and that hated bath time, but a normal boy nonetheless.

However, it was impossible to not notice the boy's 'quirks' from time to time.

Like that one time when a 4 years old Suguha was sad because she saw a kitty on the street and was unable to catch it, and he, worried had told her he would bring her a lot of cats to play with.

Then, he had taken her to the courtyard and clapped his hands, before making some weird noise, to his little sister's confusion.

When Midori arrived home that day, she almost had a heart attack when she saw their courtyard filled with cats of all sizes and origins, as if every single feline in kilometers had come to play at their house. And in the middle of it all, her children were happily laughing and petting them, Suguha thanking Kazuto for it all.

Then, there was the time when Minetaka's father decided to teach his grandchildren the way of the kendoka, both kids starting to get kendo lessons from the old man with all the enthusiasm one would expect from a kid their age.

It took Kazuto 'somehow' breaking 5 shinais before the man quitted trying to teach him kendo, wondering how it was that the little boy was so strong. Even so, he never seemed upset or bored, smiling like always, and cheering on his little sister as she kept up with her training, making Suguha actually get pretty intense with it, motivated to become a great kendoka.

A year after that, Minetaka's father died. Her husband took a long break from his work just to come to the funeral, and they left the kids with a babysitter before going together.

None of them was expecting to, somehow, find Kazuto there in the graveyard already, silently waiting as they brought his grandfather's coffin to bury. That was the first time they could remember seeing him not smiling.

They had to call the babysitter to tell her to calm down and that the boy had somehow followed them, even as she apologized endlessly saying that she only took her eyes off him for a second, Suguha's voice in the background asking if Onii-chan had 'found grandpa', like he had promised her he would do.

Minetaka and Midori exchanged worried looks at that. Being kids, they had tried to ease the pain by telling their children their grandfather was going to a far way place and that he would probably take a long time in coming back. None of them was expecting their daughter to ask her brother to find him…or for him to 'succeed'.

Kazuto was oddly silent all the way back home. Then, without saying a word, he rushed into the house and, after making sure Suguha was sleeping, went down towards the dojo.

That's where his father found him, staring in shock as the boy calmly went through every single kendo stance he could remember having once practiced with his father perfectly, then some that no kid should be able to do, that Minetaka knew he had only seen his father demonstrate, with such speed and accuracy that seemed inhuman.

When the shinai broke from the pressure, the little boy let him fall and, as he turned to look at his adoptive father, his eyes were once again _like that_.

Red and slitted, with a yellowish sclera filled with black veins.

The sheer hurt reflected in them, however, together with the tears, prevented Minetaka from feeling any fear at all

"Grandpa…isn't coming back, right, papa?"

Then, he had rushed to hug the man's legs, sobbing. That was the first time Minetaka remembered seeing his 'son' cry.

He would discuss the incident with Midori the next day, before finally being forced to return to his work with worry, exchanging a few words with Kazuto before going back again.

"Take care, son. And…take care of your mother and sister too, okay?"

"…don't worry papa. Nothing will happen to mama and Sugu." answered the boy while smiling again, his eyes shifting from their 'normal' way to those inhuman ones for an instant as he said that. "I will make sure of that!"

Minetaka didn't know if that been reassuring or terrifying. Probably a bit of both.

Months passed, with Suguha devoting herself more to her kendo training despite her grandfather's absence. Her brother always made sure to cheer her on happily to show his support.

Then, one day, she was practicing near their courtyard's pond…when she accidentally fell inside.

That day, Midori had to come home from work in a rush, called by the neighbors about some sort of 'water explosion' having happened in their courtyard. When she arrived, it had been to see several of her confused neighbors on her half-flooded garden looking at the empty pond, and her children huddled together under several towels, Suguha shaking and clinging tightly to an unusually serious-looking Kazuto as he patted her head.

When their mother asked what had happened, the boy had been the first to answer with a simple yet strangely sinister phrase.

"The bad water tried to hurt Sugu, so I hurt the water bad."

Then, for the first time in years, Midori decided to ask just why it was that her son didn't like water.

His answer was…ominous.

"It brings bad memories…of red water that hurt me everywhere, and six red eyes looking at me…"

* * *

 _"Cut, rip, tear, dismember and devour! Oh, my sweet freak of nature…"_ – Unknown (Probably someone with serious mental issues).

* * *

Nine years old Kirigaya Kazuto was walking back home from school, hand to hand with his little sister, who was telling him about what they had learned that day, even as he heard her with rapture attention.

Then, he had suddenly stopped, frowning with confusion as he looked in a seemingly random direction.

"What's wrong, Onii-chan?" innocently asked a confused Suguha.

"Someone is crying…Sugu, hold tight."

With a smile, as if was usual, the eight years old clung to her brother's back, wrapping her legs around his waist for 'security', as he had told her.

Kazuto started running a second later, faster than one would expect from a little kid, especially one carrying a girl just slightly shorter than himself.

Not even 5 minutes later, they were in a relatively big park, rushing through the trees and stopping near where a twin-tailed little girl was crying, probably no older than 7, if that.

Worried, Suguha had gotten near her first after hopping down from her brother's back, even as Kazuto looked from her crying face to the tall tree where a kitty seemed to be hanging atop one of the highest branches.

"He-hey, are you okay? Don't cry, please!" pleaded Suguha worriedly while trying to comfort the girl.

"Pi-Pina…got scared from a dog…and got in the tree…now he can't come down…" sniffed the crying girl while looking at them with quivering lips.

"…I will get him down." suddenly spoke Kazuto with nonchalant voice, making the younger girl blink and look at him, even as his sister looked up towards the tree, worried. "You will stop crying if I do, right.

"U-uh…? I…"

The boy didn't even give her time to finish stuttering before he jumped, easily grabbing hold of the lowest branch, which bent slightly under his hold.

Then, _something_ happened to his hands, the skin around them darkening and shifting even as he threw himself upwards with utmost ease, under the gaping gaze of the no-longer-crying girl and the worried one of Suguha.

Pina the cat watched with a mix of fear and confusion as the supposed human finished pirouetting his way to his side, smiling at him happily before raising his hands (Wait, human hand weren't supposed to have…all of _that_ , right? Or to be _looking_ at him?) before happily clapping with them. The feline relaxed immediately before the once again normal hands grabbed him, hugged him against the boy's chest…and then he let himself fall down from the tree back-first, the cat's owner screaming in fear.

He crashed down.

The ground got hurt.

Kazuto didn't.

"Here…your cat." happily said the boy while standing up, his back and hair dirty with grass and dirt as he handed the meowing Pina to his wide-eyed owner, who grabbed him with a look of childish wonder.

"Ah…tha-thanks…uhm…stranger?"

"Oh…you shouldn't talk with strangers, that's what mama always said!" cleverly warned the boy before extending his hand. "My name is Kirigaya Kazuto! Now we're not strangers anymore!"

"…A-Ayano Keiko. Thanks a lot, Kazuto-san! And…uhm…"

"Kirigaya Suguha. I'm his little sister!" introduced herself the girl before pouting at the boy. "Onii-chan, now you're a mess! Quick, let's get going home so you can take a bath!"

"…do I have to?" whined the voice in a comically depressed voice, making Keiko giggle.

"Yes, you do! I know you don't like water, and I get how scary it can be, but that doesn't mean you can stop bathing! Don't make me have to bathe you myself!"

"Fine, fine, I will take a mean bath!" replied Kazuto with his own pout, crouching to let Suguha climb on his back again before smiling at the twin-tailed girl. "Have a good day, Keiko-chan!"

"Yo-you too!" shouted the surprised girl upon seeing them running away from the area at surprising speeds. "…sugoi…"

That night, Kirigaya Midori arrived home tiredly while shaking her head, wishing for nothing more than a cup of coffee and lots of hours sleeping.

The sound of something heavy crashing and breaking make her freeze in shock, though, the twin screams of her children that followed it making her rush upstairs as if her life depended on it, throwing open the room to Suguha's room.

"Kazuto, Suguha, what…?! OH MY GOD!"

There was…something going from one side of the room to the other. Something long, black, with skin that seemed like rock and filled with teeth-like spikes. And it had _eyes_. Lots and lots of eyes.

Fear gripping at her heart, Midori's eyes moved toward the thing's end, seeing how long and claw-like fingers were smashing through the door of Suguha's closet, having almost literally torn it apart. And, at the other side, as she had feared, was Kazuto, his arm having mutated into that thing and…and…trembling in fear while his little sister hugged him in equal terror, even as both turned to look at her?

"MOM!" they both shouted, and, to the woman's absolute stupefaction, all the eyes in that monstrous arm his son now had (Which were a scarily familiar red-slitted with yellow sclera, now that she realized) _quivered_ with the same fear and relief in the boy's human ones as both children rushed at them and hugged her…well, half-hugged her in Kazuto's case.

"I…what…uh?" was all that came out of Midori's mouth, her brain still trying to reboot.

"The-there was a monster in Sugu's closet!" sniffed Kazuto…all his arm-eyes sniffing with him too, reflecting the same worry. "S-so she called me over to help…"

"A-and Onii-chan smashed the monster with his hand! Boom!" cried Suguha while making a gesture towards the boy's monstrous limb, even as it 'returned', reduced its size and once again mutated into a perfectly normal human arm, the girl apparently seeing nothing wrong with that. "Ca-can you check that the monster is gone?"

"I-I would, bu-but…I have to make sure Sugu stays safe!" excused himself the boy, clearly scared, even as their mother deadpanned at them, as if not believing what was happening.

Twenty minutes later, the 'monster' (Which resulted to be a poor rat that had been left in a state that Midori preferred her kids not seeing) had been disposed of and both children were sleeping in their mother's room, hugging each other for comfort while the woman looked over them.

Kazuto had turned his arm into some sort of abomination of nature…because he was afraid of a monster in the closet. Midori wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry at the irony.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to go down to get some coffee and call Minetaka. That was going to be a _long_ talk…

The next day, Kazuto would receive a call from his father, where he would be told he shouldn't do 'strange' things in public. Confused, the boy would accept, though not really sure what he or his mother meant by 'strange'…

* * *

 _"If you have claws, wings, and spit fire then you ARE a dragon! Don't try to deny it_!" – Unknown (Probably some racist bastard).

* * *

Eleven-years-old Kirigaya Kazuto hummed happily as he entered the post office of some out-of-the-way town out in the country, at least one hour away from his home in Kawagoe.

His mother had told him he couldn't go too far from home for his new hobby (The boy got and dropped them incredibly fast), collecting stamps, but honestly, she hadn't specified just how much 'too far away from home' was. Kazuto figured that, if he could return home in time for dinner, it meant that he wasn't too far away yet. Besides, he already told Sugu he hadn't found any new stamps in the post offices of the city and that he was going to look a bit farther to get new ones.

Still happily humming the opening song of one of his favorite anime, the black-haired boy skipped inside the small building, looking around in wonder and smiling at the sight of several stamps he had never seen before, happy to have brought the few yen bills he had saved lately for this. Giving a glance around, he noticed that, besides the attendants behind the counter, the only ones in the office were a woman and a dark-haired girl around Sugu's age, which he assumed to be her daughter and that was sitting on a bench beside the automatic door reading a book.

Ignoring the odd look the ten years old gave him, the boy skipped towards the counter, receiving a curious from form the woman beside him as he leaned forward and asked another of the workers for stamps, receiving amused smiles in answer.

Then, he blinked as his acute senses caught the sound of something, turning around to see a pale-looking man with a bag and a dirty cap on his head entering, almost stumbling, into the post office, the little girl from before looking at him with apprehension as he walked towards the counter…and violently threw the girl's mother to the ground, to everyone's shock, slamming his bag on the counter and getting a handgun out of it, which he quickly used to aim towards the terrified elderly worker before him.

"Put the money in the bag!" screamed the man, the spit flowing down his face indicating he was either very high on something or just extremely on edge for what he was doing. "Don't push the alarm, hurry!"

Tilting his head to the side, Kazuto was quite aware of everyone's heartbeats skyrocketing at the robber's order (And was that a second heartbeat coming from the belly of the young worker a bit behind the one grabbing the money? Uh, curious…). Idly, he noticed that the girl was staring at her mother with fear before once again looking at him, as if wondering why he wasn't reacting with fear himself to the situation or…

The elderly worker's hand slipped downwards. Eyes widening, the man started to pull the trigger…

And something so fast and thin that was impossible to properly see, black and sharp, filled with small eyes, shot from the boy's chest and cut through the gun just as the robber shot, the resulting detonation making everyone scream as the man let go of his now ruined weapon.

The little girl watched in muted shock as the _tendril_ shot back into Kazuto's chest (Leaving a hole in his shirt as a result), none of the adults having properly realized what had happened as they were too busy staring at the robber.

"You shouldn't do that. It's dangerous." spoke the boy with an emotionless voice, STARING at the now wide-eyed man, who turned to look at him with fury and horror.

"Shu-shut the hell up, you damn brat!" snarled the man while punching the boy in the face, the woman still on the ground screaming as a result, even as her daughter threw her book away and stood up, ready to rush to aid the boy, her overprotectiveness of her mother triggering her impulse…

But Kazuto didn't even flinch and the robber screamed while removing his hand, feeling as if he had tried to punch a wall. Finally, the workers reacted, one of them pushing the alarm while two of the younger ones jumped at the pained, weaponless and confused robber.

Dusting himself off, the black-haired boy walked forward, ignoring the skirmish on the ground to help the dumbfounded fallen woman to stand, her daughter rushing beside them shortly after.

"That was dangerous. Are you okay?"

"Ye-yes…" shakily answered the woman, looking from the now restrained man on the ground to the kid standing there, clear incomprehension on her face.

"…how did you do that?" demanded the girl while frowning towards him, making Kazuto blink and look at her.

"…sorry, what?"

"The gun! You blew it up, with something from your chest! I saw it!"

"Shi-Shino, dear, don't be silly, there is no way he could do that…"

"But mom, I saw it, it's the truth!"

"Oh…yes, I did. What of it?" answered the boy with clear confusion, earned a shocked look from the mother and a triumphant one from the daughter.

"See?! So tell me, how did you do it?!"

"…I just did it, it wasn't anything weird, really." shrugged it off Kazuto under the confused stares of both women, one seemingly at a loss and the other clearly unsatisfied.

"Bu-but…that's not something normal people just does!"

"…really?" the black-haired boy suddenly seemed confused at her words. "I …had never thought of it that way. Sorry if it bothered you, Shino-san, Shino-san's mother."

"A-ah…no, uhm…you see…"

"Hey! Who said you could call me by my name! Use my surname, I don't know you at all!"

"…but I don't know it."

"Asada! Asada Shino!"

"Ah, okay…then, later, Asada Shino-san, Miss Asada. I'm Kirigaya Kazuto, and I need to buy stamps!"

With those words, the boy happily walked to the counter, grabbed the stamps that had been forgotten there, left a bunch of yen bills and walked out of the post office, ignoring the outraged/ shocked stares of Shino and her mother, and the shouts for him to come back from the workers.

When the young girl rushed out of the building after him, intent on making her tell her how he did that, he was nowhere to be seen, much to her shock.

Sitting on top of a train going back to Kawagoe, Kazuto was too busy staring at his new stamps, while also wondering if he was somehow 'weird'…

* * *

 _"Veritas Vos Liberat (The truth shall set you free)."_ – Jesus.

* * *

Taking a deep breath, Kirigaya Midori steeled herself for what she was about to do. She had spoken with Minetaka yesterday, almost one hour arguing with her husband on the phone, and they had finally agreed that it was time to tell the truth.

Entering Kazuto's room, she wasn't surprised to see the twelve years old sitting side by side with his sister as he helped her finish her homework. Most siblings at their age started to drift apart for one reason or another, but honestly, their mother thought it would be a cold day in hell when she saw those two acting like normal kids.

"Ehem, Sugu, Kazuto?"

"Ah! Hi mom! Look, Onii-chan and I just finished solving a bunch of problems!"

"Sugu is really smart, mom!"

"Tha-that's great, uhm…Suguha, can you go to your room for a bit? I need to talk with your brother."

Confused, the younger girl looked from her mother to her older brother before shrugging, giving him a peck on the cheek before grabbing her note and rushing out of the room, Midori quickly closing the door as she exited it.

Kazuto felt tempted to tell her Sugu was just pressing her ear at the door, but decided against it. He didn't lie to keep secrets from his little sister, so he simply straightened on his chair and looked at his mother in confusion.

"Is something the matter, mom?"

"…Kazuto, dear…there is something I need to tell you, but please, don't take it the wrong way." taking another deep breath, Midori gathered her courage before speaking again. "You…are not our real son…"

At the other side of the door, Suguha's hand shot to her mouth, even as the boy's eyes widened at hearing her heart skip a beat.

…Sugu hadn't known? Really? He could swear she…oh, damn.

"Mom…I know I'm adopted." he spoke with sincerity, slightly surprising the woman, biting his lips as he stole a glance toward the closed door. "But…I don't really care about that, you're still my family, and…"

"I…am glad you think that, you don't know how much, but…there is more." looking to the ceiling, apparently lost, the woman once again glanced at her adopted son, finding the conversation extremely hard to continue. "…do you remember anything before the orphanage? Anything at all?"

"I…I'm not sure…" muttered the black-haired boy while looking to the side, suddenly seeming…very confused. "I…I remember red water that hurt everywhere sometimes, but…that's all…"

"Son…you know how you can do things…that other kids can't do?" now, Midori had Kazuto's full attention, his unnervingly eyes fixed on her. "The truth is…a bit over 10 years ago, I, your father and Suguha were coming back from visiting my family, and…"

Behind the door, a lost and confused Suguha tried to understand what she was hearing, though her mind unable to accept it. Her brother…wasn't her brother? And he had…come from under the earth?

She had seen a lot of movies with him, scary ones at times. She knew that things that came from under the earth were usually bad news, but he always told her he would protect her from anything, even if he was scared too…so…why…?

The sound of his mother screaming Kazuto's name broke her out of her shock, the young girl throwing the door open in time to hear a window being smashed.

Midori rushed towards the window, even as a scared Suguha looked at her back.

"Kazuto! Kazuto, come back, please!"

"Onii-chan…? No, Onii-chan, don't go!"

Ignoring the shouts for him to come back, the confused boy kept running through the night, scared, worried, wanting to cry and not knowing what to do.

 _"What am I?"_

That was the question that ate him all night as he jumped to rooftops, easily scaling walls and going through parts no kid his age should be able to.

He had never stopped to think about it, not too much, but the words of that Shino girl came back to his mind now that he knew how his family had really found him.

He wasn't normal. What was he, then? A monster? An alien? A creature from another dimension?

Kazuto was still lost in thought even as the sun started to come out, idly aware of the tears on his face as he kept moving, stopping atop what seemed like some fancy mansion before jumping again, staring at the sky.

He raised a hand, almost wondering he could touch the heavens by reaching far enough.

Then, he blinked, remembering that he couldn't actually fly and that he hadn't bothered to look where he was jumping now…which was straight into a big pool.

"Oh…nononono, AHHHHH!"

With a thunderous splash, the boy sank in the water like a rock, shaking his arms around like mad and trying to get out.

In her mind, the water was suddenly red, and it hurt everywhere, even as six red eyes watched him with a mix of curiosity and repulsion.

Bad. The water was bad! It was going to hurt him! He needed to get out, out, out, ou…!

A floating ring was thrown over him. Eyes widening, Kazuto grabbed it, bringing himself out of the water and gasping for breath, shaking and soaked.

"Air…no water…need to get out…out…"

"He-hey, are you okay?!" shouted an unknown voice, making the boy blink and look up in wonder at the scared-looking girl at the edge of the water, probably his age, which was one of the cutest girls he had ever seen.

The chestnut-haired girl, for her part, was terrified. She had decided to take a break from studying for her next important exam and come to gaze longingly to their house's pool, knowing that her mother wouldn't let her swim until it was summer when she had suddenly heard a scream and an unknown boy had literally fallen from the sky before starting drowning. Panicked, she had grabbed the nearest floating ring and thrown it his way, relieved when he had grabbed a hold of it.

Worriedly, she motioned for him to come to the edge, which he clumsily did so, before she got him out of the water, noticing how he was shaking and pale.

"Tha-thanks…you sa-saved me…"

"O-okay, relax, alright? I'm going to call Haruka-san, uhm, our housemaid! Sh-she will give you something to dry yourself…uhm…"

"Kazuto."

"Right, Kazuto-kun. I'm Asuna, s-so take it easy there, and…eh…I don't want to worry you, but your eyes are kind of red and yellow…"

"Oh…sorry." looking down, the boy blinked again, the change in his eyes reverting. "I didn't mean to scare you…"

"Of course you scared me; you fell down from the sky and almost drowned in my pool!" shouted the thirteen years old, much to the boy's shock, before shaking her head. "Just…stay there, okay? Haruka-saaaaan!"

Half an hour later, Kazuto was sitting awkwardly on a couch in the fanciest living room he had ever seen, wearing clothes too big for him and being repeatedly asked if he needed something or was feeling sick by Asuna, under the amused look of her older brother, Yuuki Kouichirou.

"Your mother is coming to pick you up, Kirigaya-kun. She sounded extremely worried." commented the young man with a small smile. "Honestly, how did you even get into the house, let alone fall into the pool…?"

"Onii-sama, I already told you, he fell down from the sky!"

"I-I did…sorry, Yuuki-san, I didn't mean to cause trouble to any of you…"

Shaking his head with amusement, Kouichirou found funny that his sister would still stick with such childish prank. Maybe she wasn't as much the mature teenager she told him she was, not that he really believed it.

Oh well, at least this hadn't happened when their mother was home. Knowing her, she would have terrified the kid to death before even calling his family.

"…wait, you ran away from home?! Why?!"

"Be-because…I don't know…I didn't want to scare my family…"

"Well, now you have certainly scared them, running away and almost drowning! Honestly, what kind of boy are you?!"

"I-I'm sorry…snif…"

"…wa-wait, are you really crying?! So-sorry, I didn't want to be so mean, s-stop!"

Barely holding back a chuckle, the young man wished he had a camera. Seeing his little sister off the rails like that was certainly amusing.

A bit later, when the boy's family came for him, he would see Kazuto walking sadly towards them and saying he was sorry, only to be told the same by his mother even as his crying sister almost strangled him to death with a hug.

Then, Asuna would tell him to never do something so stupid again and apologize again to his mother and sister on his behalf, drawing an embarrassed shout from Kazuto and giggles from the Kirigaya women. Though Suguha frowned her way when she held her brother's arms and make him swear to really not repeat something like that.

All in all, he could say it had been an eventful evening…

* * *

As the Kirigaya's car drove away from the Yuuki residence, the silent Kazuto (With his sister possessively hugging his arm and sending looks back towards the fancy house they were leaving behind).

"…mom…Sugu…aren't you…scared of me?"

"Eh? Why would we? Onii-chan is Onii-chan, no matter what!"

"Yes, as Suguha said, Kazuto. Even if you aren't…normal, you're still my son. You're still part of this family, and that's not going to change. Sorry if the conversation yesterday made you think otherwise, I just…thought you needed to hear the truth."

"No…sorry for overreacting, mom. And sorry for worrying you, Sugu. I promise…to never do anything stupid like that again."

"Good."

"I'm glad to hear that, Onii-chan…"

"…I probably should promise to not use a tentacle to break a gun again either…or does doing it to save someone justify it?"

"I don't kno…wait, what?! When did you use a tentacle (You have tentacles?!) to break a gun?!"

"Ah…over one year ago, I think? When I met Asada Shino-san and her mother…"

"Who is Asada Shino?! Onii-chan, what have you been doing behind my…I mean, our backs?!"

"Ouch…Sugu, stop, don't pinch my cheeks, it hurts!"

"Lies! I have seen you falling off a tree without blinking, back when we met Keiko-chan! I know this doesn't hurt you!"

"Wait, hold on a second, what have _you two_ been doing without telling me?!"

And so, the day continued for the slightly unusual family…

* * *

Deep within the mountains of Fukushima…a clawed hand sprouted terrifically from the earth.

Then, it took almost fifteen minutes for the coughing and clearly winded creature to emerge from the dirt, killing any terrifying effect as he looked around.

"Fucking finally! It took me years to regenerate myself and then get out from the labs remains, but I'm here. Thank Fate I was able to survive…" groaned the creature in its own inhuman tongue, his six red eyes scanning the surrounding area while standing unsteadily on his six legs, before dragging an organic-looking 'box' from the dirt after himself. "Now then, let's see…wait, this can't be right! It says X-K0940 is still alive…but there are no worldwide reports of panic or chaos or the end of the world?! What the hell?! Ugh, no matter, I will take this improbability as a blessing! I need to do my job, find that abomination…and exterminate it." those words said, the creature morphed the strange box into an oversized weapon, loading the cartridge with a heavy sound as he aimed to the sky. "As Waryum, the caretaker of the Primary Investigation Facility on Earth, I swear to save the primitively stupid yet amusing mankind from that unholy spawn!"

Heroic declaration made, the so-called Waryum rushed forward in a brave sprint.

He promptly slammed into a tree, breaking it, and decided that maybe he should just walk while trying to save mankind.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Well, that was that. Thank you all for bothering wasting your time reading this oddity XP

In case it wasn't clear yet, Lusus Naturae means, literally, 'Freak of Nature' in Latin, and I thought it was an oddly appropriate title for this story that basically went off the idea of 'What if Kirito was some sort of Eldritch Abomination…but had no idea he was one?'. Adding that to my weird and crazy imagination and humor, that some of you already know, gave birth to this…thing you have read.

If anyone is wondering, all the background events of the SAO Universe were the same as canon in this AU except that Midori's sister never had a child. And that, you know, someone thought it was a good idea to let an idiot in charge of dangerous experiments under Earth's surface. After that, well…you can see how this little Kazuto has already started to mess with the plot.

Also, I have no intentions of continuing this story right now, Fate knows I shouldn't be adding more when I have yet to finish one and I owe everyone the sequel of another, but if I did the plot would basically center around our dear not-so-normal idiot trying to grow up as normal as he can, and obviously failing, while the great Waryum hunts him in hopes to 'save mankind'. Add the SAO Universe's plots in the middle…and you get a nasty mess.

As a certain elf-demon would say "You're not prepared." Only that the 'you' would be almost everyone trying to fuck up with people, from Kayaba to Sugou to etc…if anyone is interested in adopting this idea, though, write me about it!

Well, that's all for now, I guess. Have a good day, hope you haven't been pranked as much as me :P

Till next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	2. Chapter 1: When Monster met Dreamer

Sigh, so…surprise. Here I'm again.

Yeah, I…don't know what to say about this. I should have gone back to writing Requiem Universus, but I had just managed to write a page more when the positive feedback this story was getting and my own curiosity decided to make me start the beginning of chapter 2 just to waste a bit of time.

Then, somehow, I wrote 11K words in record time, like I hadn't done since the time I started writing OPG ._. And I hate myself for it, because I should be pouring that effort in RU, which is in its last arc, not in this weird idea, no matter how much it pleads while looking at me with its puppy, red/yellow and many eyes…but alas, it happened, so forgive me again and have…fun? With this chapter of this craziness.

Also, a small warning, there is a biiit of the movie SAO Ordinal Scale Spoilers in this chapter. Nothing about the plot, really, just the appearance of two characters that I thought would fit with what I wanted to do, but they're still there, so…yeah (How sad it is that I still haven't seen the movie, but I have been Spoiled enough of its plot to feel comfortable using characters from it?).

Anyway, with that said, I leave you all with a weird origin story to start with…

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: When the Monster met the Dreamer…**

 **An Unmeasurable amount of time ago. Galaxy Gamma 56G. A barren and desolate planet…**

It was a harsh world, with little water and brutal conditions. Life here wasn't to be enjoyed, just a struggle to survive each day.

However, for the strange and tiny black creature that ran over the ground of the rocky desert, none of this mattered. Its 'brain' (Or whatever organ it had that passed for it) was too small for it to care about such things. All that it cared about was to feed and arrive alive to the next day, no actual reason for doing so beyond its instincts.

Suddenly, the small creature stopped, the many slitted red eyes it had over its body blinked as it looked around several times, before turning its lizard-like head to the red sky.

There was something massive floating there, of a complex geometrical-shape, shining with many esoteric lights as it floated above the planet's surface.

Uncaring, the being moved its gaze back to the ground again, preferring to care more for the 'charge' it had on its back, a couple of spherical sacks of a gelatinous membrane, with what seemed like small spheres of flesh inside. Satisfied that they were okay, the small creature growled softly before starting to move again.

Then the spaceship fired and everything exploded into a brutal burning hell.

The last thing the creature would ever do, by instinct, was to curl itself around its eggs, protecting them from the wave of destruction that killed it instantly.

Hours later, several strange beings with 6 lower limbs, and anequal number of all-red eyes and clawed hands could be seen walking over the destroyed area, carrying strange and organic-looking machines as they analyzed the area, exchanging important conversation in their strange tongue.

"…so, did we have any actual reason to start blowing up this planet?"

"Urikam said we weren't brave enough to use Lurex Radiation Blasts on the wildlife and then see if we could get something that survived!"

"…he was right, though. Nothing fucking survived."

"…oh, man, this sucks. I actually thought that…hey, what's that?!"

"Ah, some sort of small and ugly critter…look at all those eyes in the wrong places! It's dead, though…wait a minute…it's all bent like, protecting something…oh!"

"Sweet Stars, are those eggs?! And are they…intact?!"

"Fuck, they are! We hit the jackpot! Hey, guys, we found something, let's get moving back to the ship!"

Not much later, the creatures were back on their ship, leaving the damaged planet as they stared at the two tanks within the two smalls 'eggs', even if they seemed more like sacks of flesh, floated, each one no bigger than a closed fist.

"So…now we have two alien creatures in unborn state filled to the brink with Lurex Radiation." started the first one after several seconds of silence. "Bets won aside, that's quite a big deal. What do you think we should do?"

"Well, it doesn't seem like that thing down there was very tough, even if it was probably adept at surviving." commented the second one while looking one of the eggs with critical eye. "…why don't we try and take advantage of the radiation to make these things a bit tougher? We may get something actually useful from them!"

"…didn't we swear to stop playing God after what happened in the neighboring galaxy?"

"Hey, accidents happen, even those that force to create a Black Hole to clean the mess! I'm sure this time will be fine, I have a…gut feeling, you could say."

"…ah, what the hell, let's do it. What's the worst that could happen, anyway?"

Time was very hard to measure in space, especially for a race like that of the creatures, which spend an unholy amount of it out of their home planet, but it was undeniable that a long amount of it had passed before they deemed their experiments of 'enhancement' to be over.

And the results were…well, 'better' than expected…

"…hey, Ubom?"

"…yes, Grotek?"

"…I think we may have overdone it a little." softly finished the second alien as they STARED at the 2 truck-sized tanks before them, both of them filled with the…things, one of them floating peacefully in the darkness of the red liquid while the other was repeatedly bumping on its cage's side, as red/yellow eyes wide open as it tried to reach for the other one.

"Geeze, you think so?" dryly commented Ubom while looking down at a screen on the panel before them, his red eyes set into a frown. "Still, the results are something beyond anything we can imagine. While X-K0940 is certainly weaker than X-K0941, both of them had shown an astounding survival ability, not to mention absurd adaptation…and an Omega-level danger to any other life forms around them."

"Well, 41 has. 40 is just…you know, too stupid." commented Grotek while looking at the 'sleeping' abomination. "It doesn't even bother developing immunity to the drugs we use, like its sibling has. Anyone would say it likes sleeping or something…"

"Doesn't change how dangerous it is." answered the other while pressing a button, showing a barren wasteland with a couple of dry blue trees in the middle. "That thing eats several times what the other does, and it just doesn't stop. And that was just under a Programmed Protocol, I shudder to think what would happen if it was allowed to think or develop a brain by itself…"

"So…what do we do with them now? Do we…dump them on a nearby star or…?"

"And waste all the time we put into them? For Fate's sake, think straight. Hmm…I'm sure the guys back home would welcome 41 with open arms, especially if we 'train it'. Its aggressive and combat-oriented capabilities are certainly something you won't see naturally in this galaxy."

"…and what of the sleepy one?"

"Eh, I think I heard that idiot of Waryum was being punished for his latest screw up and being sent to some Fate-forsaken planet in a nearby Star System, that one with the giant lizards that went extinct when that meteor crashed."

"Oh yeah, I think I remember reading about it…poor imbecile…wait, you want to send X-K0940 there? With Waryum?!"

"Why not? There is more than enough organic waste there for it to keep it fed without problems, it's something so simple that not even HE could screw it up. Also, who knows, he may actually learn something useful from this thing…"

"Well, if you say so…better start preparing them for transfer, then."

After saying those words, Grotek was quick to push several buttons on the control panel, the tank containing the experiment X-K0941 starting to lower towards an underground level, while its sleeping brethren remained oblivious to it all.

The creature in question, however, wasn't the same, as its eyes widened and it started to thrash violently within its prison despite all the drugs coursing through its body, claws and tendrils filled with eyes trying uselessly to reach out for the other one as it released pained growls.

"Man…it's doing that again. Happens every time we separate them…"

"Well, this will be the last one, at least. Say goodbye to your sibling, 41. You're not going to see it again."

There was no way for the mutated creature to have understood the alien's words.

And yet, it released an unholy roar of sadness, still trying to reach for its brethren, even as the darkness of the closing bio-mechanic doors blocked it from view.

The wailing sounds didn't stop for a long time…

* * *

 **April 23rd, 2021. Earth, Japan. Argus Corporation Main Building, 18:30…**

Sighing as he entered the lab, the man of metallic eyes and grayish black hair looked around with a slightly bored gaze, though almost seeming relieved of being in the silent and empty place, surrounded by computers and other, more complex, machines.

For 25-years-old Kayaba Akihiko, this place was probably more akin to a home than his own, and it certainly was a nice oasis of tranquility after the storm of annoyances that had been the last few days, since the announcement of his current project, the Nerve Gear.

A part of him had intellectually known that his bosses would be ecstatic and that the world would get in an excited uproar from the reveal and the possibilities of actual, fully functional and interactive Virtual Reality, but really, he wasn't expecting to be dragged to interview after interview for days. If he wasn't a patient person, he was sure he would have strangled someone out of sheer frustration by then.

After all, none of them knew, or understood, his true goal, his dream. And every second wasted was a second that he wasn't investing in bringing it to reality.

The image of a floating castle in the sky filling his mind, the man entered the inner part of his lab…and blinked at the first sign that something was wrong.

Just above the wall beside that door, there was an air duct. That was normal, though, as he always had seen the duct there…but now it was wide open, the usual grill that covered it nowhere to be seen. Also, at least 3 of the seven computers in the office were on, with several files being displayed onscreen.

Which was impossible, as he had not only turned them all off before leaving, but every single one and every file within them were blocked and encrypted with his personal passwords.

That was when he heard…it. Just at the edge of his vision range, something made a skittering sound, making his head swivel to the side, towards the darkest parts of the lab, seeing absolutely nothing within the darkness.

Gulping, the man's hand slowly moved towards the switch to turn on the lights, feeling his heartbeat increasing slightly, almost feeling something within the darkness **watching** him…

The lights turned on before Kayaba could even touch the switch.

"Oh, finally found the lights!…hi there."

Kayaba Akihiko did not scream like a scared little girl and slam his back against the wall at the sight of the young and smiling teen standing on the middle of his lab, waving his way. If anyone ever asked, he would fervently deny such a thing.

So then, after recovering from the incident that most certainly _didn't_ happen, the manager of Argus' 3rd developing branch asked the only sensible question.

"Who the hell are you and how did you get in here, kid?"

"Ah, well, I got here through the ventilation ducts." explained the black-haired boy while pointing at it, even as Kayaba deadpanned his way, as the ducts were not only too small for the teen, but also were a maze that went through the entire building in all directions, most of which included drops of several meters. "As for who I am, I'm Ki…rito. Yeah, that's right, you can call me Kirito!"

"…and what are you doing here, 'Kirito'?" questioned the man with exasperation, not really wondering why the obviously childish teenager wasn't giving away his real name.

"Well, my mom made an article in the magazine she works at about you, Kayaba-san, so I grew curious and investigated a lot about you and that Nerve Gear thing you are developing! Then, I decided it would be easier if I just came to meet you, so here I am!"

"I…see." muttered the man while releasing a sigh, turning around to grab his phone, dialing the number for the building's security. "But I'm sorry to tell you that you came here for nothing, kid. I'm too busy these days and I don't have time to be answering children's questions…"

"Actually, I originally only wanted to see how you were…but now I find myself curious: Why are you purposefully making the Nerve Gear with a flawed design?"

The question from the boy called Kirito made Kayaba freeze dead in his tracks, almost letting go of his phone and totally ignored the confused voice of the security guard coming from it.

"…what did you just say?"

"I saw your files. I checked the specs you're working with." explained the boy while pointing towards the active computers. "Of course, I didn't understand most of it at the beginning, but an hour going through the internet for the weird concepts fixed that."

"One hour going through…? Are you messing with me?"

The man's outrageous question had its merit, of course. After all, just the basic technical concepts needed to _imagine_ the Nerve Gear were knowledge of University-level, and the kid before him couldn't be even out of middle-school yet. And the ideas he had gotten to specifically develop the systems came to him while working under Dr. Shigemura Tetsuhiro, one of the most brilliant minds he had ever known.

The mere thought that this kid had managed to _understand_ it, let alone see the 'flaws' in its design, even if he had his original notes and instructions right on his face, was not so much unthinkable as it was borderline fiction.

"I'm very good at memorizing things I'm interested in, but I tend to forget them when I get bored. Mom says it's because I'm a bit scatterbrained." shrugged it off 'Kirito' as if that explained everything, only making Kayaba gap at him harder. "Seriously, though, why are you doing it? You could have made it less bulky and energy-consuming by foregoing that massive battery. Sure, it wouldn't completely block the signals that go from the brain to the body that way and you would need to use low-frequency microwaves, but still, it would be much easier to manufacture and develop, not to mention it would look more user-friendly which would make it sell more."

"Yo-you seem to know…a lot about these things…" muttered the man while his eyes darted toward the door, wondering where the hell was Security.

"My mom works as the Editor of an information magazine about computers, so I, of course, know a lot about them. I even made my own before getting bored and starting collecting stamps, but it's useful for homework so I don't regret it." continued the boy, smiling all the while, which was starting to truly unnerve the scientist. "But really, if someone like me could see it, then it's obvious that you could too, so I risked being late for dinner to say and ask you: Why are you purposefully designing it that way?"

"Because…it's necessary." was Kayaba's tense answer while staring at the unnervingly wide eyes of 'Kirito'.

"…necessary for what?" asked the boy in seemingly honest confusion.

Of course, that was the moment when a shouting guard rushing into the lab, looking alarmed as his eyes shot towards the man in the white lab coat.

"Ka-Kayaba-san, what's wrong?! You suddenly stopped talking when you called!

"No-nothing dangerous, except that we have a breach in security. Can you tell me how did this kid get…here…?"

Kayaba trailed off, eyes wide, as there was no young teenager in the room anymore. Startled, his eyes shot towards the air duct, only to see the grill was back on again, with screws and everything, as if it had never vanished.

"…uhm, what? What kid, sir?"

"I…I…ehm…"

An hour later, after brushing the incident off with the guard as perhaps being too tired of the latest events, Kayaba Akihiko would sit on his main computer and check the personal security cameras he had in the lab.

When the recordings suddenly cut off, one by one, after a certain point, by seemingly no reason, he would quickly rush off to check on the hidden cameras.

 _Someone_ had turned **all** of them off, despite the angles in which they were supposedly making this impossible without appearing in the cameras themselves.

Filling a chill running down his back as he once again glanced at the empty lab, the man forced himself to calm down and continue working…

* * *

 _"Human naivety it's funny, until it isn't anymore."_ – Unknown (He was quite right, though)

* * *

A week later, Kayaba had finally managed to convince himself that his encounter with the weird kid had been nothing but his overworked imagination.

Which make the fact that, when returning to his lab after getting a coffee from the lobby, he screamed and threw the hot drink through the air very understandable.

Not that something like this happened, of course.

That the mysterious 'Kirito' was now holding said drink after miraculously catching it in midair, also seemingly not minding how hot the plastic cup was, had nothing to do with this.

"Man, you should be more careful, Kayaba-san! What if you had spilled this all over the machines?"

"Ki-Kirito…you're back."

"Yeah, I didn't get an answer to my question last week before I had to go home for dinner, so I figured I could come back and ask you again!" cheerfully stated the smiling boy.

"I…see. I'm sorry t-to say, though, that I'm quite busy today, with a lot of important work, so I don't have time to answer your question…"

"Oh, too bad…" accepted the boy while looking around, taking a small sip from the coffee before handing it back to the man, his smile suddenly going full force. "Hey, can I watch you work, at least? I'm sure I can learn lots of awesome things from just that!"

"…sure, be my guest." spoke Kayaba with a resigned tone, ignoring 'Kirito's cheer in favor of sitting again and massaging his temples. "Just…be silent, okay? I need to concentrate."

Surprisingly, the boy complied with his request. So well that, during the following 2 hours, the scientists turned around more than once, to check he was still there, because his mysterious guest was being so silent it was creepy.

No teenager should be able to stand still, just _watching_ someone else, for so long, without complaining at all.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but in truth hadn't been even 3 hours, 'Kirito' excused himself, saying something about being late for dinner if he didn't hurry. Taking a deep breath after saying goodbye, Kayaba's head snapped back.

Of course, there was no one in the lab now. A quick glance to the ventilation showed it was perfectly normal, but given he hadn't checked this time if the grill was off when he saw the strange boy inside, he couldn't be sure if that was relevant.

A 'casual' checkup with security later revealed that no one had been seen entering the building at all, the cameras of Argus not showing anything. Steeling himself after that, the scientist went to check his cameras once again, remembering how he had asked to not have any vigilance from the company within his lab for personal security reasons, and that the system had been entirely installed by himself (He couldn't risk anyone even remotely seeing anything 'strange' with his work, after all).

All of them were turned off. And the recordings stopped one by one just minutes after he left the lab for his coffee.

Weighing the options between convincing someone that there was actually an unknown teenager somehow getting into his lab undetected, and as such risking people investigating and finding _something_ he wouldn't want them to, and just ignoring the mysterious oddity, Kayaba was sadly forced to go for the latter.

From then on, the weirdest routine the man could have ever imagined seemed to settle in his life. Sometimes once, sometimes even twice a week, the mysterious 'Kirito' would suddenly pop-up in his lab at some point in the evening, usually between 17:00 and 18:00, and stay between two to three hours, mostly watching him work.

With time, the man started to feel less weirded out by him and, dare he say, almost found his presence relaxing, like another part of the calmness that was his work.

Which obviously was around the time when the boy decided to start making small questions, usually about what he was working in that day or what he imagined the future of VR would be. At the beginning, Kayaba ignored the questions, telling him that he needed silence for his work. As the weeks passed, however, either because he was getting tired of the questions or just didn't mind them anymore, he started answering, finding that the small chat actually helped him concentrate more easily.

"Who is Rinko?" suddenly asked the boy one day, after almost three months since their first meeting, just as he was finishing programming the software needed to make the conversion from data to waves work.

"What?" asked the blinking man with surprise, clearly not expecting the random question.

"You have a ton of missed calls from her, and you don't even answer when she calls, not even when you're taking a break."

"She's…an old acquaintance." responded Kayaba while shaking his head, turning once again back to his work, idly noticing the boy seemed to be doodling something on a piece of paper. "I'm too busy these days to make time and talk to her, she should know it…and what exactly are you doing?"

"Oh, just designing the 'improved' Nerve Gears, if you remove the flaws I told you about." casually commented 'Kirito' while giving him a smile, showing the poor drawing of some kind of futuristic visor, revealing that art was definitively not among the boy's mysterious abilities. "That aside, should I help you out with that? I could be your…what's called…secretary! Yeah, important people has that in movies to manage their calls and schedules, right?"

"Ugh, I don't want a secretary, Kirito-kun. And also, I already told you that the Nerve Gear's design doesn't need…" a sudden message popping up on his screen interrupted the man, making him frown and stand up after reading its contents. "Damn, they need me on the floor below to fix a problem they're having with the calculations I gave them. Wait here and don't touch any of the computers, okay?"

"Okay!" smiled the young teen while waving towards the sighing scientist, starting to happily hum an old anime song…and blinking when Kayaba's phone, which he had forgotten, started to ring, making him blink at the name he didn't recognize on the screen before shrugging and grabbing it. "Ehem, Kayaba Akihiko's lab, this is…his secretary, can I help you with something? Uh…? A personal meeting…? And you say you know Kayaba-san…? Oh, you were his mentor? Sure, no problem, let me see…ah, it seems you should be able to come and see him somewhere next week. Yep, just let me write it down to not forget…Shige…mu…how is that written again?"

Minutes later, Kayaba returned to the lab while shaking his head, muttering about people wasting his time, before his eyes widened at seeing 'Kirito' standing at the opposite edge of the room, looking with confusion at a folder he had hidden within the safeguard camouflaged in the wall…which, of course, was wide open beside the boy.

"Wha…how…?!"

"Ah…you didn't say I couldn't explore, and I wondered why this part of the wall seemed to be hollow." explained the black-haired boy without explaining the impossibility, before looking up towards the man with childish curiosity. "Say, Kayaba-san, what is 'Aincrad'?"

* * *

 _"How funny…I'm the one with the bloody scythe, but you're actually the worse killer of the two."_ – Unknown (Not someone you want to mess up with).

* * *

It was already next week and Kayaba…wasn't sure if he should feel elated or worried.

"A castle floating in the sky...a world ruled by swords…and everything will be experienced as if the players were actually _there_ …" whispered 'Kirito' as he stared at the slightly conical design of the Floating Castle of Aincrad, being the first person in the world besides its creator to ever seeing it. "It sounds…amazing."

"Isn't it?" agreed the man with an unusual smile, looking pleased with the silent awe the boy showed upon the main vision of his dream. "The name is actually an abbreviation for ' **A** n **Inc** arnating **Rad** ius', you know? The vertical axis represents time and the circular floors represent space."

"Impressive…" muttered the strange teen while a brief look of melancholy flashed through his eyes, confusing Kayaba at seeing his usual smile gone. "Say, Kayaba-san…do you this castle may exist for real…somewhere out there in another world?"

The scientist had to suppress his urge of screaming in shock, feeling his heartbeat accelerate as his eyes widened. Did the boy perhaps…understand his dream?

"…I…think that may be possible, yes…After all, the Universe is a very big place." answered the man with an unusually dried throat. "Why…do you ask?"

"…because maybe I come from a place like this."

Whatever answer he had been waiting for, that one certainly wasn't, and its peculiarity confused Kayaba enough to throw him for a loop.

He hadn't been able to gather his thoughts again and ask the boy what he meant by that when a sudden call from security demanded his attention, making him blink in confusion as he answered the phone.

"Yes?"

"Ah, Kayaba-san, just wanted to tell you that your guests are already here and going to your lab, hope that everything is in order there."

"…wait, what? Guests? What gue…?" freezing, Kayaba's eyes moved towards the still silent 'Kirito', a creeping sensation of despair filling him as he ended the call. "Kirito…what did you do?"

"Uh?" blinked the black-haired boy as he came out of his daze, tilting his head in that unusual way of his before his eyes shone with sudden understanding. "Oh yeah, with all of this about your 'SAO' I totally forgot! Last week, you received a call from…!"

Someone knocking on the lab's door interrupted the young teen's explanation, the scientist barely resisting the urge to scream his head out as headed to open it, half-expecting to see Rinko there, and also swearing to strangle the boy if it was that annoying idiot of Nobuyuki.

What he wasn't expecting, however, was to see a bespectacled man with grayish hair and silver-blue eyes (That Kayaba found strangely weird to see without his usual lab coat), much less with a young girl of brownish eyes and similarly short hair (Two braids at the front), wearing a blue-white hoodie, silver skirt and gray leggings and shoes, who looked at him curiously from behind the man.

"Shi-Shigemura-sensei…" muttered Kayaba with absolute shock.

"Hi there, Akihiko-kun, it has been some time hasn't it?" commented Shigemura Tetsuhiro with a tired smile, before looking towards the girl half-hiding behind him. "Now, Yuuna, what kind of manners are those? You should properly greet someone you just met."

"Ah…sorry, dad." apologized the young girl before bowing towards the surprised scientist. "My name is Shigemura Yuuna; it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Sorry about not telling you I would bring my daughter, but she was really insistent about wanting to meet the genius that had been a student of mine and was working to create true virtual…hmm? Do you have a guest already, Akihiko-kun?"

"Eh? What are you talking abouuuuut?!" finished the slightly stunned Kayaba with a scream, having turned around to follow his old mentor's gaze…towards 'Kirito', who was still there, sitting on a desk and staring at the illustration of Aincrad he himself had made, raising his gaze for a moment to wave their way, his usual silly smile on his face.

Given how the boy all but literally disappeared every time without explanation, and the two times the guard had come in during his stays he just seemingly vanished, one could excuse the scientist for being shocked at him not having moved from his position upon the newcomers' appearance.

"Hi there, good afternoon to you two, Shigemura-san." nodded 'Kirito' before going back to admire Aincrad's design.

"…who is that?" asked Yuuna with obvious curiosity while staring at the unknown boy, who seemed around her age or so.

"He…is…"

"I'm Kirito, Kayaba-san's secretary." 'explained' the black-haired boy when it seemed that the man in question was unable to finish a proper sentence, making the two newcomers blink while the older looked at his old disciple with a raised eyebrow.

"Ahahah…he's just…the kid of a close friend, and he sometimes stay over to look at my work." quickly invented Kayaba while awkwardly scratching the back of his head, hoping that his nervous smile would be enough to fool Tetsuhiro.

"Truly? Hah! Talk about unexpected surprises, I never pegged you for the type to accept taking care of kids, Akihiko-kun!" jovially commented the older man while patting his old disciple in the back, unusually cheerful all of a sudden. "Neither that you would let one watch you working! People truly change with time, eh?"

"Ye-yeah, sensei…" muttered the younger man with a nervously chuckle, thanking the heavens that the excuse had worked…and idly noticing young Yuuna walking towards the humming 'Kirito', triggering all sorts of alarms inside his mind. "Ah…"

"What kind of name is Kirito anyway?" questioned the brown-haired girl while looking at the boy with a raised eyebrow.

"My working name."

"Working? You look no older than 12!"

"I'm 13, and I already told you, I'm Kayaba-san's secretary."

"He just said you weren't, though…"

"Nah, it's just that I'm so good at it that he denies it out of embarrassment."

"Oh? You think you're a good secretary, uh? Well, I'm a way better singer to you, I bet!"

"…isn't betting illegal?"

"Kuh! I mean, betting in a figurative sense, dummy…or we can bet sweets if you want!"

"Ah, okay…I don't have any sweets, though…"

"Don't worry, I have enough for the two of us!"

"I have never sung in my life either…"

"Hey, don't surrender before even trying!"

"…okay, I guess."

As the bickering between both teens went back and forth, the two adults blinked before exchanged a surprised look.

"…well, that happened." commented Tetsuhiro with a raised eyebrow. "Got to say, that's one peculiar boy, Akihiko-kun. I have never seen someone acting so oddly before Yuuna's enthusiasm."

"Yeah, well, Kirito is certainly…odd, alright." sighed Kayaba before blinking at the melodious voice that started to sing, looking back to see Yuuna with her eyes closed as she intoned a song he had never heard, 'Kirito' watching closely with rapture attention. "Woah…your daughter has talent, sensei."

"Heh, she really does, eh? I love hearing her sing. It…brings back happy memories…" muttered the bespectacled man with a faraway look in his eyes, his old disciple looking on and wondering what he was thinking about. "…anyway, sorry again about all of this. I know you're very busy, but to be honest, I just wanted to see how you were doing after that world-changing announcement. You were always a brilliant person, but a tad too introverted most of the time…I guess I didn't really have to worry, though. You seem to be doing great."

"…I do?"

"Yes. You're smiling more and seem more relaxed with people…heh, don't tell me you haven't noticed?"

Kayaba honestly hadn't, and he didn't know if he should find that worrying or not. Perhaps the mysterious kid that had crashed into his life out of the blue had been affecting him more than he had imagined…

The sound of sudden clapping as the song ended brought him out of his musings, drawing his and Tetsuhiro's attention towards a brightly smiling 'Kirito', who was putting enthusiasm that seemed too childish for his age into cheering Yuuna's song, causing the girl to blush slightly.

"That's amazing! I have only seen people singing on the TV or the internet before, you really are something else, Yuuna-san!"

"Ge-geeze, don't exaggerate…a-and don't try to distract me, you still have to sing too!"

"Oh, right…well, here goes…"

Coughing a couple times and closing his eyes, the black-haired boy started to sing.

Yuuna's confident smile vanished while her father's eyes widened, Kayaba's mouth opening in shock.

Naturally, without seemingly conscious effort, 'Kirito' started to sing the same song the brown-haired girl before him had, with the same cadence, same tone and even the same rhythm. In fact, the younger scientist had, for a moment, believed that he had copied even Yuuna's voice, no matter how impossible that sounded, before realizing that no, it was just that he was just adjusting his tone to sound as similar as he could to the girl's while still being his own voice…or something like that.

When the boy stopped, opening his eyes and smiling brightly, Kayaba realized that he had unconsciously started to clap, quickly stopping at the realization.

"…so, how was it?" honestly asked 'Kirito' while tilting his head.

"You…I…li-liar!" accused Yuuna once she got out of her stupor, puffing her cheeks as she pointed a finger towards the blinking boy. "You said you had never sung before in your life!"

"…I hadn't, though, that was my first time trying it."

"Bu-but…it took me years of practice to get _that_ good! How could you do it if it was just your first try?!"

"…because I saw you do it that good?"

"That doesn't make…! Okay, know what, it's fine! This isn't over yet, I'm going to show you what a real songstress can do!"

And so, time passed that evening with both young teens 'fighting' with their voices, and with the girl growing increasingly frustrated at the boy's nonchalant attitude and seemingly effortless ability to match her singing skills.

Kayaba Akihiko and Shigemura Tetsuhiro eventually started to talk calmly with the sound of their singing as background, remembering the times when the former worked under the latter, chuckling at the memory of some of Sugou's most annoying rants and even discussing a bit of Akihiko's work, which Tetsuhiro was more than glad to congratulate and give him some pointers about.

It felt oddly nice for the younger scientist, a feeling he had nearly forgotten filling him again as the evening went on.

"…ah, it's getting late. Sorry for taking so much of your time, Akihiko-kun." apologized Dr. Shigemura upon noticing the hour. "Yuuna, say goodbye, we have to go."

"Wha…?! Already?!"

"Oh, he's right, I hadn't noticed how late it was getting. It's almost time for me to go home too…" whispered 'Kirito' while looking thoughtful. "It was nice knowing and singing with you, Yuuna-san!"

"But…no, this can't end like this! I refuse to not settle who is the best singer!" protested the brown-haired girl with a determined look, before pointing straight towards the black-haired boy. "Kirito-kun, when are you coming here again?!"

"Uhm…next week…around Tuesday, I think?"

"Dad! Can I come here next Tuesday?!"

"Eh…honey, I'm sure Akihiko-kun would be too busy for that…."

"But he comes here and Kayaba-san doesn't complain, so it should be okay, right?"

"Ehm…well, Kirito certainly has been coming here for some time, so…sure?"

"Hmm…well, if you're sure it won't be a problem…"

"Yay! Just you wait, Kirito! From now on, we're Singing Rivals! I shall defeat you!"

"…good?"

Several minutes after that was over, a sighing Kayaba said goodbye to his mysterious 'friend', not even bothering to turn around as he 'disappeared' like always.

Sitting there in silence, the man thought about the odd events of the day, and the even bigger oddity that was him accepting to let Shigemura Yuuna come into his _personal lab_ while he _worked_ just to have a sing-off against Kirito.

Thoughts about how the strange black-haired boy was making him go insane made him recall his sudden and unexpected singing talent. Slowly, he reached into the nearest desk, looking over something for several seconds before grabbing it as he did his weekly round of turning on all cameras again.

The small and newest one was, with difficulty, set on the ceiling, just atop the entrance to the ventilation duct…

Meanwhile, that night, on the Kirigaya household…Kirigaya Midori returned home unusually early to blink in confusion at the sight of her mesmerized daughter, still clad in her kendo hakama, as if she had frozen after exiting the dojo, staring towards something in the living room.

"Suguha? Why are you standing there instead of changing?" questioned the woman before blinking at the song that was echoing through the house. "And did you or your brother leave the television on, that sounds like…ah…"

Blinking, Midori was greeted by an even more shocking sight: That of her adopted son standing in the middle of the living room, eyes closed and arms wide open as he sang melodiously a song she had never heard before.

"…Onii-chan's voice is…amazing." muttered Suguha with a small blush.

"…since when could he sing?" was what asked her very confused mother.

"…oh, I learned it just today!" explained Kazuto while stopping himself mid-song, sending a bright smile towards his mother and sister. "I was with my friend 'K' once again when we met Yuuna-san and her father, and I became her singing rival!"

Midori just stared at her son in confusion, wondering how such a random thing could happen to anyone (And if she would one day meet this so-called 'K' friend of his). Suguha, on the other hand…

"Wait…Onii-chan…is Yuuna-san a girl?"

"Yep, she is. Also, she's coming to K's place again on Tuesday to sing against me, so I was practicing!"

"…I see."

The confused boy spent the night wondering why his adoptive sister seemed annoyed.

* * *

 _"Curiosity didn't kill the cat. It murdered it without mercy, then went to search for its next victim."_ – Unknown (Very amusing guy, though).

* * *

The next week, Kayaba entered his lab to find a slightly more unusual sight than most days.

 _"Henshin!"_

"…are you watching Kamen Rider on one of my computers?" questioned the man with an exasperated tone, seeing 'Kirito' sitting on a bench and watching a young man turning into a spandex-clad hero to fight against some weird monster.

"You almost never use this one anyway, and I really like this series." answered the boy without looking away from the fight on the screen. "It teaches me a very valuable lesson."

"…heh…what, how to be a hero of justice?" questioned Kayaba with an amused smile, strangely glad of seeing the kid doing something his age for once.

"No." denied 'Kirito' with a strangely…emotionless tone, the following words sending a strange chill down the man's spine. "That monsters who do bad things always end up badly."

The black-haired boy's words coincided with the costumed hero evading his enemy's tentacles and slamming an explosive kick against it, blowing the monster to oblivion. For some reason, Kayaba swore he could hear the boy's teeth clenching.

"Kirito…?"

"Say, Kayaba-san, who is Cardinal?" interrupted the strange boy while turning around as the episode ended, childish curiosity once again in his gaze. "I read your files again, and she was mention there."

"…of course you did, despite me changing the passwords." sighed the scientist while shaking his head. "And you're confused, Cardinal is not a person, it's a program. The Cardinal System is going to be what manages the entirety of Sword Art Online."

"Like…an AI? Managing _the entire_ world? With no human supervision?"

"Cardinal is not exactly an AI, is a bit more complicated than that, more like a self-aware and self-upgrading system that is constantly learning and searching for new data. It's going to do everything from correcting bugs to continuously generate New Quests for all Floors. And before any paranoia American movies may have put in your head, don't worry, I'm obviously programming the necessary measures to prevent it from going out of control and take over the world."

"…that's amazing beyond belief, but you really suck at making jokes, Kayaba-san."

"Well, excuse me for not meeting your comedy standards…"

"Why does it need to be so complicated, though? I mean, I get that such an incredible thing would solve tons of problems and save a lot of time, but it also sounds scary."

"S-scary? What do you mean with that?"

"Well…it almost feels as if you purposefully want to remove the human factor from the equation of controlling SAO…"

The suddenly pale man was about to try and ask why the boy had said that when a call from the usual guard told him, with clear confusion, that the young girl from the other day had just been dropped off there and was demanding to come up. After gathering his thoughts for an instant, he told her to send her up.

When Yuuna entered the lab (Wearing a school uniform this time), any trace of the previous mood had already vanished, 'Kirito' happily waving towards his 'rival' as she pointed challengingly at him.

"Today we settle this, Kirito! I brought an entire bag of candy for us to bet!"

"Ah…I brought some sweets my mom made."

"Homemade?! Oh, now I'm SO beating you!"

Suffice to say, the matter couldn't be settled that day, despite the girl's best efforts, as the black-haired boy kept singing as amazingly well as she did. Even so, 'Kirito' still shared some of the sweets with her, and she also gave him some of her candy, grumbling that she would beat him 'next time'.

If he was less busy working while idly humming the tune of his lab's new 'BGM', Kayaba would probably have cared more about the implications of that.

That night, after Yuuna had been picked up by her father and 'Kirito' had mysteriously vanished like always, the scientist sat before his computer with an indecisive look, slightly biting his lips.

After several minutes of hesitation, he brought up the recording from his newest camera.

With rapture attention, he watched as the images on the screen showed the ventilation duct slowly shaking as the screws keeping the grill in place came out _from the inside out_. Then, the grill fell down…before _something_ quickly grabbed it too fast for the human eye to see, stopped it and gently let it on the ground.

Within the darkness of the duct, Kayaba Akihiko could almost see something, like a dark shape slightly more distinct than the darkness around it…

Then, all of a sudden, something shot out once again from the duct, straight towards the camera, ending the feed. Cold sweat rolling down his face, the man's gaze turned towards where that camera should be. It was gone.

'Kirito's words of before, and how 'strange' he seemed that evening before Yuuna came in, echoed into the scientists head as he put the feed on once again and froze it just on the last seconds, winding it back frame by frame.

Something long, thin and jet-black could now be seen in the middle of the screen, too blurry to be properly identified…

Except for the unmistakable form of a red/yellow eye, just on the tip of it.

Kayaba Akihiko had a lot of problems sleeping that night.

* * *

 _"Take off your mask and show me your face. No matter how horrible it may be…"_ – Unknown (Someone who clearly didn't know how ugly some faces can be).

* * *

It was the last day of October, and it was raining fiercely outside Argus' main building. The unusually cold night was quite an oddity for the middle of autumn, but nothing that warranted too much attention. Odd storms happened all the time.

For Kayaba Akihiko, however, the hallways of the building felt unusually sinister despite the illumination as he walked down them, the echo from his footsteps almost seeming like a deafening sound.

'Kirito' hadn't come that day, much to Yuuna's obvious disappointment. The girl had been clearly surprised and sad, as the strange boy hadn't missed any of their 'musical fights' (Though he would almost dare to call them dates, in a way) in the three months since they first met. However, that wasn't anything compared with the unsettling nervousness and, dare he said, terror that the scientist had felt.

The mysterious boy had never failed to come at least once a week, two since he met with the Shigemuras, even starting to announce when he would next come for his friend's sake. It had become such a constant in Kayaba's life that his sudden disappearance had set him on edge.

Had something happened to the sinisterly abnormal teen? Or maybe something else had…?

The lights of his lab being off was the first sign the man got of something being terribly wrong. The second was the sinister silence within the room, as the slight humming of the computers and other machines had seemingly vanished for no reason. His hand immediately went to the switch beside the door. Nothing happened.

Had the power been cut off? With the storm, it probably wasn't that strange, but then why hadn't the emergency generators kicked…?

"Kayaba-san."

Familiar, but terrifyingly empty. That was how the voice coming from the darkness within the lab sounded to Kayaba's ears, making his heart freeze as his gaze shot around, trying to see something within the shadows.

"Ki-Kirito, is that you? Yo-you didn't come today…why are you here so late? It's freezing outside, n-not to mention the rain, so…"

"I know, Kayaba-san." interrupted him the voice in the shadows, with an unusual edge that made the scientist want to run without looking back.

"…I beg your pardon?"

"I came earlier than usual today. I wanted to surprise Yuuna-chan by showing her some detailed images of Aincrad, so I tried to hack deeper into your files…and I found it. The reason why you purposefully wanted to make the Nerve Gears that way, the reason why you made Cardinal like that…I found the Secret Order you're going to put within SAO's Code."

Utter silence filled the room, even the roaring storm outside seemingly muted while Kayaba felt his mouth unusually dry, contrary to how the rest of his body was covered in cold sweat.

"Kirito…I…"

"I tried to remove it, you know? As soon as I found it, as soon as I understood what it was, I went straight to the fifth floor's basement, where you store the data…but I couldn't do anything against it. Your Cardinal is truly something terrifying, I spend most of the evening trying but I was unable to get through even its most basic external security. My skills simply can't ever compare to something like that…to something that actually _learns_ , unlike me."

"Unlike…you?"

"I can absurd the knowledge of things I see firsthand, then replicate it in the exact same way, you know? That's how I upgraded my computer skills by watching you work, that's how I could sing after watching Yuuna-chan do it, that's how I could go through all kendo stances flawlessly after seeing my sister doing it for years…but that's all I can do. Imitate. And I can't regulate it, not at all. That's why I still needed to look over concepts I didn't know when applying your abilities, that's why I can only sing as good as Yuuna-chan does, only improving as she does, and that's why I still break a shinai every time I try to practice kendo, because my strength goes out of control when I start going through the motions meant to use you full strength…"

Something was…moving, in the dark. Something heavy, yet light. Big, yet able to skitter around like an insect.

All of the scientist's instincts were SCREAMING for him to run, to get out of there and never look back…but he was unable to move at all, too immersed in the boy's words, in the secret he had wanted to know ever since he appeared the second time and that had unsettled him since he managed to get that recording…

"Ki-Kirito..."

"Also…I'm like a sponge, Kayaba-san. I can only absorb so many things before I start to leak, then I have to let them go. That's why I can never maintain a hobby for too long, why I don't try and socialize much, why I prefer doing so many odd things…because a part of me is scared, that if I don't keep doing it, one day I will wake up and I will forget things I don't want to. I'm scared that one day I will wake up and not be myself anymore…"

"Kirito…please, let me explain…" started the man while backing away…hitting the closed door.

The door he had just gone through and left wide open. _Nothing_ had moved near it, as far as he had seen, which made his gaze move towards the floor, looking everywhere, his heart going crazy within his chest.

"Did you know I could perfectly recall most of my life till recently? Now…I can no longer remember the faces of anyone from the orphanage, nor their names. I can't even remember how the walls looked like…but I still remember every time mom and dad would come to see me, especially when they would bring Sugu with them. I still recall every moment since I saw my home for the first time, as bright as the light of day. I don't want to forget that because I treasure it too much. I don't go out of my way to do things other kids do because I treasure my memories too much…and then I met you, and I thought that I found something else to treasure. New memories to make. It was fun, every day since we met. Coming here, watching you work, talking to you, meeting Yuuna-chan and Shigemura-san…I thought we were… _friends_ …"

'Kirito' walked out of the darkness, looking as normal as always. There was no trace of whatever _thing_ the scientist had felt within the room anymore…

Because it all was now centered around the strange kid, who was stared at him with empty eyes.

Empty, red slitted eyes, with a yellow sclera filled with black veins.

"Ah…ah…"

"…why? Why would you want to do such a thing?"

"You…I…you don't understand…"

"Then TRY to make me understand!" screamed the boy with the inhuman eyes, the lab shaking from how hard he had screamed, **rage** reflecting on his face as his entire body shook in an unsettling way. "…you heard Yuuna-chan the other day…she said the first thing she was buying the Nerve Gear for when it came out was to play SAO…you were _watching and hearing_ us talk about it…and didn't even look guilty…WHAT DO I NEED TO UNDERSTAND, KAYABA AKIHIKO?! TELL ME!"

Finishing his scream with a trembling stomp on the ground, something shot from the boy's chest, as fast as a bullet. Kayaba felt a sharp pain on his head, then only darkness.

When he woke up, he was drenched and freezing, the unpleasant feel of wet dirt and grass under him. Shakily bringing himself to his feet, the man almost felt like screaming upon realizing he was in a graveyard.

The sight of a familiar boy standing a couple meters from him stopped him from doing so, though. More precisely, the empty way in which he was looking towards the graveyard before him, towards which his eyes were instantly dragged.

 **'Here lies Kirigaya Kaito.'**

 **'Master Kendoka. Honorable Father. Beloved Grandfather.'**

"…when someone dies, they go away forever. They don't come back, no matter how much we want them to. No matter what we can do…" whispered 'Kirito' as tears streamed down his eyes, visible despite the rain because they were somehow **red**. "I learned that when my grandfather died. All the things I can do, all the abnormality and weirdness I have…I would change it all for a day seeing him smiling at me and Sugu in the dojo again."

"…I…am sorry for your loss…" muttered Kayaba while feeling utterly lost, unable to properly think what to say to the boy.

"…don't you care for life, Kayaba-san? Is whatever you want to do really worth ruining so many lives? Those of the ones you would trap, of their families and friends…all of it?" turning around, 'Kirito' regarded the man before him with shaking sadness and simmering rage. "Don't you care for anything at all except making Aincrad real?"

"…you know…?"

"I connected the dots when I discovered the order, and all became clear soon after. You never cared about VR or its possibilities…you only want to see that castle in the sky become a reality. Everything else, Cardinal, the Nerve Gear…they're only a means to an end. Sword Art Online is what you truly seek. You want to see the floating castle filled with people that fight for their lives against monsters, just like in that dream you told me about…and you don't care how many are going to suffer just for that."

"…I…was never the most social person, like you." weakly muttered the man while staring right at the inhuman eyes of 'Kirito'. "When others approached me, I usually felt…apathy. I tried bonding with people, to make friends, to fall in love, to feel admiration for my teachers…but a part of me always felt empty. Until I had that dream and saw Aincrad…suddenly, it felt as if that part of me was burning alive. As if I would only find the true meaning to my life if I managed to reach that castle…"

"…and as you couldn't, you decided you would _make_ it. Am I right?" whispered the black-haired boy…before his body started to…twist, inhumanly so, Kayaba simply **staring** as he walked forward, the sound of clothes being torn apart filling his ears as 'Kirito's skin broke and darkened, as his size _grew_ , as if raw flesh was spilling from within himself. "You know the…saddest thing, Kayaba-san? I ma **y be this thing…but if you continue with what you want to do…you will without a doubt be the true monster of the two."**

Of all the things to see, it was the eyes that drew the scientist horrified attention the most. So many of them that there were probably dozens…maybe over a hundred, all in the wrong places.

The enormous 'head', only vaguely lizard-like, had only one, a MASSIVE one, after all. And the monstrously long arms ended in claws that could probably tear through bone as if it was wet paper.

Tendrils whipped at the air from the darkness, growing all along the massive thing's body, the man's mind unable to fully assign a shape to it, the many limbs that kept it straight probably being legs, though he couldn't assure it among the darkened cemetery.

And yet, despite the sheer horror, despite the monstrosity of it all…Kayaba realized he wasn't scared anymore.

Because he could see the way in which the 'monster' trembled with every breath; because he could see the hurt and the tears spilling from every single eye, how the massive mouth filled to the bring with teeth the size of his forearm was trying to not release sobs.

All he could see before him was a child trying very hard not to break down. Not a monster in any sense.

And it was at that moment, thinking back in everything he had said, in all that had happened in the last months…that he realized 'Kirito' was right.

With dawning horror, Kayaba Akihiko realized that, right then…the only monster within that graveyard was him and him alone.

Numbly, he walked forward…and fell to his knees beside the abomination of nature, leaning his head against him as he started to silently cry.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

Looking down at him…'Kirito's eyes seemed to soften with relief, as if a part of himself had just been saved. Then, slowly, his gaze turned towards the grab around which he had unconsciously coiled, doing a visible effort to talk without his voice breaking down.

 **"Hey there, grandpa…it's been a long time. Sorry for not coming earlier, but…a lot of things happened. Also, sorry for making my friend cry here, I know it's not proper…let me sing you a song as compensation, okay? Yes…I can sing now, though my other friend is way better at it, no matter what she says…"**

Slowly, the creature's mouth opened. The familiar lyrics of Yuuna's song spilled out, sounding as beautifully coming from it as when he looked like any normal kid.

Kayaba Akihiko cried harder as he let himself listed to the unusually sadness-filled song, even as the rain slowly stopped…

* * *

 **January 2nd, 2022. Kawagoe, Saitama. Kirigaya Household, 18:30…**

Kirigaya Kazuto happily blew the candles of his birthday cake before giving his sister and their mother a big smile.

"And I'm officially 14! Yahoo!"

"Ahahah, honestly, Onii-chan, no matter how old you get, you never change." laughed Suguha while shaking her head, before giving him a soft smile and, embarrassed, handing over a small package, which the boy grabbed with surprise. "The-there! It's not much, but I hope you like it…"

"Sugu, didn't we agree I didn't need any gifts? Christmas was just a couple weeks ago!" chided the black-haired boy while opening the package…and looking with surprise at the small necklace with a silver katana on the center, shining beautifully under the evening's light. "It's…beautiful…"

"That looks…quite expensive." muttered Midori with obvious confusion, raising an eyebrow towards her daughter, who simply laughed it off.

"Nah, not at all! Is just something I got in my latest kendo tournament, a-and I thought Onii-chan would like it more…"

"Wait, you mean the one in Tokyo where…?"

"Sugu, it's great!" shouted Kazuto while rushing to hug his adoptive sister, interrupting his mother and making the young kendoka blush as she looked away. "This is the best present ever, I'm never going to take it off!"

"I-it's nothing, really…I'm just glad you liked it…"

"…well, I for one am surprised you didn't invite anyone else over." commented their mother with an amused look while looking at her children. "I know you aren't the most social person, but couldn't you invite that 'K' friend of yours? You…stopped going to his home for a while now, though…"

"Heh, let's just say that K-san needs some time alone. Besides, I think he's going to be just fine without me now." cryptically explained the black-haired boy while putting a hand on his chin. "Also, I didn't exactly know too many people, and none I could invite. I considered inviting Asuna-san, but she most likely wouldn't be able to come, she seemed more like the type that only goes to high-class parties…"

"Yes, exactly that, Onii-chan, I'm totally sure you're right!" affirmed Suguha with a satisfied nod.

"And I don't even know where Asada Shino-san and her mother or Keiko-chan live, so…"

 _DING DONG!_

Blinking, the Kirigaya family exchanged confused looks before Kazuto walked towards the door. Opening it, he was met by a delivery man wordlessly handing him a package and walking away without saying a word, making the boy blink as he turned around, closing the door behind him as he turned to face his equally confused mother and sister.

"Who…who send that?" questioned his mother while staring at the box.

"I don't know, it's only addressed to me…" replied Kazuto while opening the box, his sister helping him out with the plastic covering it…and freezing in shock upon seeing what lie inside, marginally aware of how his mother emitted a choking sound as he grabbed the transparent package with the black device inside. "No way…"

The futuristic visor seemed almost to gleam despite the lack of light in the hallway, its cables neatly folded around it.

"Is…is that…a…?" started to ask Midori with wide eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"O-Onii-chan…there is a letter inside…" informed Suguha while handing the boy the small piece of paper, eyeing the new and clearly expensive device with a sudden sense of inadequateness.

Taking great care of not dropping the gift, the black-haired boy opened the note, his sister and mother moving closer to read it too.

 _'Enjoy calibrating it; you should know they won't come out in shops until next month. All your suggestions worked marvelously in increasing the efficiency and speeding up the design and production, by the way. Thanks for everything, Kazuto.'_

 _'Kayaba Akihiko.'_

Kazuto felt a soft smile appearing on his face as he stared back at the improved Nerve Gear.

"Kayaba-san…you didn't have to…"

"O-oh my God…that's really a Nerve Gear…a-and…Kayaba Akihiko…yo-your 'K' friend was…?!"

"Mo-mom, calm down, you're going to hyperventilate!" cried Suguha with panic while trying to prevent the woman from having a nervous breakdown, though she herself wasn't totally sure of the motive, given she wasn't as in-the-know of technology as her mother was. "Onii-chan, help me!"

"Ah, right! Don't worry, mom, I…wait a minute." stopping dead in his tracks, the black-haired boy suddenly looked back down at the note, realizing something that he hadn't quite thought about at first. "…I never told him, so…how did he know my name?"

Dawning realization hit him a second later. He _had_ shown the man his grandfather's grave on the graveyard. With that, it wouldn't have been too difficult to use his resources to…

It was then that he noticed something else written at the bottom of the note.

 _'PS: Hope you enjoy your second gift.'_

A strange sense of confused dread filled the inhuman boy's mind. Second gi…?

DING DONG!

Turning around almost automatically, Kazuto opened the door again just as Suguha managed to calm Midori down…

And had a basket of sweets the size of his head almost thrown in his face, only his reflexes letting him catch it at the last second, recognizing with wide eyes the two people before him.

"HAH! Did you really think you could just disappear without so much as saying goodbye, Kirito?! Think again!" shouted Shigemura Yuuna while pointing towards the boy's face, her father standing awkwardly behind her. "Now enjoy those sweets and get ready, you will always remember this birthday of yours as the one I showed you who was the best singer of the two!"

"Hello, you must Kiri…uhm, Kazuto-kun's family, right?" asked Tetsuhiro to the frozen forms of Suguha and Midori, who were staring at the scene with absolute disbelief. "I'm…sorry for intruding, but my daughter insisted _a lot_ on coming to give her 'musical rival' a birthday present…"

"Ah…no problem…" weakly muttered the woman while blinking several times.

"…who are you?" deadpanned the youngest Kirigaya with an unusually cold tone, her brother keenly aware of how it was directed at the brown-haired girl (Though with no idea of why).

"Yu-Yuuna-chan, Shigemura-san!" half-shouted Kazuto, unable to hide his absolute shock at the presence of the two. "Ho-how…did you know where I live? O-or that it was my birthday?"

"Oh, Akihiko-kun called us this morning specifically to tell us that. Said you felt really bad about not being able to come to his lab anymore and missed Yuuna, so he wanted us to give you a surprise." revealed Tetsuhiro with a bright smile, apparently pleased at his former student's 'thoughtfulness'. "Isn't he such a great man?"

Within his laboratory in Argus' main building, Kayaba Akihiko calmly took a sip of his coffee with a calm smile, almost being able to hear Kazuto screaming his name in frustration.

"Ah…yes, now everything is right with the world."

Suddenly, the man's phone started to ring. Looking at it, he saw a single and familiar word on the screen.

'Rinko'.

After a moment of hesitation, the scientist smiled and answered the call…

* * *

At that moment, at the other side of the galaxy…there was a planet filled with strange organic-looking buildings and similar spaceships flying in and out of it.

This was Tryum-Delta, home planet of the race self-denominated as 'Tryums'. Famous for their research of biological knowledge…and for the lack of common sense that most of its members shared.

Far away from the main cities, though, in a deserted area, a relatively low structure, most of its bulk being underground, could be seen, with two guards standing at attention before a strangely darkened 'hole', protected by a particularly strong-looking force field.

Sighing tiredly as he rubbed his head, the six red eyes of the one standing at the left wandered towards the hole for a moment before staring at the countless kilometers of desert before them, his six legs moving awkwardly as he put the weapon he had on his hands on the ground.

"Hey, don't go leaving that cannon like that, idiot!"

"Relax, man, the safety is on. Plus, nothing ever happens here…I swear, being a guard of this prison has to be the most boring job ever."

"Yeah, well, it's still our job, and right now is our shift, so you better suck it up and just be glad we aren't any prisoner…" at that comment, the Tryum looked nervously at the hole behind them. "Otherwise we would be in danger of someone sticking that thing on us if we tried to escape."

"Oh…did you hear? They say that idiot of Waryum accidentally screw it up and released this thing's brother all the way there on Earth! Can you believe anyone can screw up _that_ badly?"

"Wait, wait, wait…this monster has a brother?! Are you serious?! There are _more_ of those things?!"

"No, no, just the two of them. I know because I used to work for the bastards that made them out of a couple of egg from some unnamed species from a planet we bombed with radiation just for a bet…ah, those were the good days…"

"Sureeee…also, do these things even have a gender, for you to call the other one its 'brother'?"

"Eh, not really sure, but I know that Waryum used to refer to it as a 'He' in all his reports, so I guess it just kind of sticks. Plus, if we're assigning genders, then this one is without a doubt a woman."

"…what makes you say that?"

"Have you SEEN what it did to the last group of idiots that tried to escape in the recordings? She's one brutal bitch, hahah!" seeing no reaction except a deadpan look from his fellow guard as his attempt of a 'joke', the bored Tryum sent a look towards the force field-protected hole before shouting with a mocking tone. "Hey, 41, did you hear? Your brother escaped and now he's going to be blasted into oblivion! Too bad, eh? Ahahahahah…!"

The alien's laughter was abruptly interrupted when several _somethings_ struck the force field with unreal speed and brutality, making both guards stumble. Then, the very ground began to shake, panicked screams coming from within the prison as an unholy roar of rage started to fill the entire desert.

"Wha-what the hell?!"

"Shi-shit, is going berserk! Why?! That hasn't happened in years!"

"Are you asking me?! How should I kno…?! Fuck, the force field is failing! Ru-run!"

Within the darkness of the 'hole', _hundreds_ of eyes opened. All of them red slits, surrounded by a yellow sclera filled with black veins.

And among the eyes…a teeth-filled mouth opened. And then another.

And another, and another, _and another_ , **_and another…_**

Within the shaking and breaking darkness, never stopping roaring in a long-forgotten rage, a cacophonous sound came from the many maws of the being denominated as X-K0941.

A single, ever-repeating, word.

 **"…bBBbbbRRrOooo…tttTTHHEeerrRRr…."**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Welp, that happened. Crazy, uh? Oh, and now you know the 'origin' of Lusus!Kirito, so, yay!

Now, though, we get to the first massively important change of the story to the in-universe events, though: Kayaba has been 'reformed' and SAO won't be a death game. The consequences for that for the world should be, as you imagine, quite mind-boggling. Also, got to say, I loved writing this chapter because of how 'interesting' it was trying to write Kayaba and his character, especially his reactions to this Kirito (Which I have quite a bit of fun writing too) crashing into his life and bonding with him in a strange way. It came at the cost of showing almost none of the other usual characters, but I think it was worth it.

As for the presence of Dr. Shigemura, I thought that it was a good point to help developing Kayaba's character to 'change him' by having Kirito literally forcing him, through childish coincidences and good will, to reconnect with people again. That he brought his daughter along was just a fun coincidence as it allowed me to give more spin to showing how this weird Kirito is. As for her becoming his 'singing rival', well, what can I say, silliness is fun XD

Also, playing around a bit with the timeline also included canon facts. The Nerve Gear _was_ announced sometime around 2021, and it was out in shops during May of 2022. Many of the things mentioned within this chapter are actually educate guesses based on this and the fact that the SAO Beta was in August of 2022, lasted 1 month and the actual game was ready 2 Months later. Kayaba had to be developing the game alongside the NG, and Cardinal had to be finished before the game could be, so yeah. And in regards to the 'Neo' (Aka Not Murderous) Nerve Gear, think of a bulkier AmuSphere with a Cyclops-visor-like vibe OwO

Ah, and we're finally seeing the signs of an actual overall plot! …which is bad, because I should be returning my attention to RU instead of this! Bad Saint! _*slams head on wall*_ Bad! _*slams head again*_ Dammit!

Cough…so, yeah, sorry about that. Anyway, I still have no real idea about this story…this may have been a fluke or no, who knows…point is, don't expect consistent Updates, but…eh, I'm not even sure at this point -x-

Till next time, this is Saint, signing off!

PS: Also, almost forgot, but in case it wasn't obvious, they're using the day Midori and Minetaka found Kirito as his birthday in this story instead of the canon one, for obvious reasons. And while, as you may deduce from the first part of the chapter, his 'body' is way older, as a 'human' he's more or less that old O,O


	3. Chapter 2: Swords, Masters, Discoveries

Okay, okay, so, many of you have been telling me I shouldn't feel bad for updating this, but really, how can I NOT do so when I have somehow managed to already make this story over 30K words long in a week, while I haven't even gotten past half of RU's next chapter?!

…anyway, on more calmed news, this story surpassed the 1200 reviews absurdly fast, which is a pleasant surprise. Still not sure of how its future or continued Updates are going to be, nor if this madness-induced speed is going to maintain itself, but I'm glad you're still enjoying my madness.

Now, I leave you with a relatively calm chapter, with more character development of our weird Kazuto, a new character joining this fic's cast and some…weirdness abound…

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Of Swords, Masters, and Discoveries**

 **August 1st, 2022. Tokyo, Japan. Akihabara, 22:30…**

The area of Akihabara within the Sotokanda District was probably one of the most well-known places in all of Japan across the entire world. Mainly because how it was considered to be THE otaku cultural center and a shopping district for video games, anime, manga, and computer goods. Walking through here, one could see literally everything and not be weirded out, from cat-eared maids handing out leaflets, random anime cosplayers and even the occasional announcement for some big event

And among all of this, of course, no one gave more than a small random or awed glance towards the 6-legged and 6-eyed alien creature standing before a store with a deadpanning look, handing out menus for the restaurant behind him.

Waryum the Tryum sighed as he once again was left without leaflets, turning around and crouching a bit to enter the small building and look towards an old man with graying hair and sunglasses sitting behind the counter.

"Oguro-san…my turn is already done and I have run out of leaflets, so I will be going now." spoke the alien creature in heavily accented Japanese.

"Ah…thanks for your help today again, Waryum-kun. Our sales have skyrocketed since we have you here." thanked the restaurant's owner before getting a covered plastic bowl and a few nearly folded yen bills from under the counter. "Here, your pay for today, and also some of our special 'Space Ramen' as a gift for your hard work."

"Oh…thanks for that, Oguro-san."

Several minutes later, Waryum could be seen walking down Akihabara's streets, a clear air of depression around him as he blended with the multitude of cosplayers and otakus.

 _"I have been looking for almost two Earth years and I still can't find that damn monster!"_ mentally despaired the alien while trying to not drop his ramen (The food was surprisingly delicious, way better than the processed crap he was used to eating back in the lab) and all but shrugging off the occasional look or picture any passerby shot his way. _"I guess the only thing I can be grateful about is that I live in the only country in the world where there are places I can hide in plain sight without anyone thinking I'm anything but a costumed human. Nevertheless, this is starting to get ridiculous. Either I beg for actual help through the communicator and pray to Fate that they bother sending it or I keep searching blindly for him through the whole fucking country…"_

"Man, can you believe some people are lucky enough to be playing it already?" commented a man that was staring at a computer shop just beside where Waryum was passing, making the alien blink and look his way. "I wish I had been lucky enough to get in the Beta…"

Idly, the Tryum's six eyes moved towards the shopfront, where the main article in demand seemed to be the famous 'Nerve Gear'…and above which a massive poster of some sort of strange structure floating in the middle of the sky could be seen, with big and shine bluish words under it.

 **'The World's First VRMMORPG: Sword Art Online'**

 **'Coming Out Soon!'**

 **'Limited Beta Test of 1000 Players from august 1st to August 31st'**

"Huh…a simulated reality. I guess that's one way to use fully-mechanical technology." commented the Tryum before dismissing any thoughts about it. "Whatever, I can't waste time worrying about things that have nothing to do with my problems. I better get back to the hideout and see if I can find any strange news or reports of missing persons that may be related to X-K0940's whereabouts…"

As he walked away, though, the poor alien had no way of knowing how wrong he was about SAO not having anything to do with his escaped experiment…

* * *

 _"We needed a legendary warrior, but instead got a lucky idiot with a sword. May God have mercy of us." –_ Unknown (Also almost everyone underestimating those with luck).

* * *

Despite being just the second day of Sword Art Online's Beta Test, the Player known simply as Argo had already noticed something that was quite odd. Yesterday, she had dismissed it as something resulting from the excitement about the start of the game's Beta. But now…

"Woah!" shouted the familiar player upon respawning once again before Black Iron Palace, the black-haired boy falling face-first into the ground for the twentieth time before rolling over himself and staring at the sky with a silly smile as he lazily raised his one-handed sword. "Again…heh, man, I really suck at this game! Ahahahah…!"

And there it was, what made the hooded girl curious at first, then skeptical and now was truly getting on her nerves. The smile and happy laughter of the swordsman seemed, as far as she could tell, utterly sincere. Which simply made no sense, given that she knew no sane person would be so happy of being killed over and over with apparently little to none improvement on their skills, if the 10 to 15 minutes the boy took between exiting the town and dying again were anything to go by.

Finally deciding she had had enough of the confusion and frustration, Argo walked straight towards the strange player just as he stood up, calling out to him with her standard nonchalant tone.

"Yo, noob! Having fun dying again and again?"

"…uh? Are you talking to me?" questioned the boy in question while the girl took her chance to examine him closely, noticing how…average, his avatar looked, as if he hadn't put any real effort into personalizing it. "Oh, heh, sorry, is just that I'm having so much fun just by being here that I can't help but getting excited!"

"Well, I can get that being chosen as one of the 1000 Beta Testers may overexcite someone, but…"

"Ah, it's not only that! I'm very happy of actually being here in Aincrad!" clarified the boy while standing up, almost a head taller than Argo, and flashing a bright and honest smile that almost made her flinch. "Honestly, at first I was scared of being unable to even use the Nerve Gear, but luckily my brain resulted to be normal enough for it to work!"

"…uhm…woah, that's…cool for you, I guess…" muttered the hooded girl while wondering if it wouldn't be a better idea to step away from the apparently insane player. "…you keep dying a lot, though…"

"Uhm, yeah, I do…guess I'm just not used to how my body feels in here, so keep screwing up…" excused himself the boy while looking at his arm with a strange smile, just confusing Argo even more. "I feel very…normal, in here, so I don't really mind if I suck royally at playing it…I just want to enjoy this world."

And something within these words simply…reached out to the hooded girl. Perhaps it was the honesty in them, perhaps it was some twisted form of pity for a fellow player or perhaps it was something more, but the point was that, in that moment, she took a decision that, even if she didn't know it yet, would end up saving more than one life.

"…say, want me to teach you how to play? I will even give you some tips in how to activate Sword Skills faster if you want."

"Really?! That sounds cool! But…what are Sword Skills?"

"…gosh, this is going to be a long day…name is Argo, by the way, weirdo."

"Oh, you can call me Kirito, then, Argo-san! Pleased to meet you!"

"Same here…I think."

With that, and with a part of her already regretting her decision, the hooded girl marched out of the town followed by the childishly enthusiastic boy.

Over two hours later, though, as they returned to the Town of Beginnings, Argo was wide-eyed and more than slightly open-mouthed, repeatedly shooting glances towards the excited Kirito.

"Man, that was so fun! I didn't know you could do so many things when fighting in this game!" cheerfully commented the black-haired boy while waving his blade on the air. "Kayaba-san really did an awesome job designing this!"

"Yeah…the details and everything are more than amazing…"

There was a reason for the hooded girl's subdued answer and attitude, even if the strange boy didn't seem to realize it.

To put it simply, he was _a monster_ , in a very specific sense of the word.

When she had accepted to help him out, she didn't expect much more than seeing a noob flapping around and trying to get the hang of the game. Instead, she had seen something that had all but taken her breath away.

Fast. So fucking fast it made no sense.

While the movements itself of the game were limited by the SPD stat, and Kirito's level had been barely 2 when they began, one's own ability to use their weapon, react to enemy's attacks and counterattack with their own was limited to something not ruled by parameters, and that Argo still had troubles fully understanding. For some reason or another, a player's reaction time seemed to be directly linked with things of the real world, probably, or maybe one's own compatibility with the FullDive technology.

The black-haired swordsman had no idea of how to dodge, parry or even properly predict the mobs' attack patterns. And he just swung around his blade in a way that was almost painful to watch…but his reaction speed was so brutal that she almost choked on her non-existing virtual breath the first time she saw him swing so fast he all but threw himself past the Gray Wolf he had been fighting against.

She was nimble on her feet with the dagger she had chosen to use, and she had seen her fair share of players rushing around with amazing skill, already starting to fill the info for later, thinking it may be useful to sell it or something, but all of them were like snails compared to how the strange guy with her moved. Shaken, she had slowly corrected his posture, explained him the basics of fighting against the AI-controlled enemies and questioned if he knew any type of real world sport that could help him out.

As it turned out, he did know a bit about kendo, in his own words. Quite useless effectiveness-wise within SAO, but at least it let him adopt a cleaner posture and made his sword swings all but flawless, all the while he marveled at it all while muttering something along the lines of _'I feel so normal doing it here'_.

Argo had tried to ignore it all and then proceeded to teach him how to use Sword Skills. She had almost suffered a virtual heart attack at that.

Kirito didn't seem to just be dragged by the skills like everyone else did, no; he seemed to actually push the damn actions in the right direction to make them go even faster and smoother, all the while laughing like a child on a sugar high about how amazing it all was.

The hooded girl had honestly started to consider that maybe the boy wasn't crazy and there was indeed something weird with his brain allowing him to move like that in the virtual world.

Nevertheless…what she had before him was probably a goldmine that had all but fallen on her lap. A hopelessly naïve boy that had a terrifying amount of potential but little idea how to use it. And given that the Beta would only last a month and she could use anything that helped her collect information for the game's actual release…

"Oh, damn, it's so late?! Sorry, Argo-san, I need to Log Out already, got to help my sister with dinner in a little while!"

"Ah, no problem, Kirito…just remember to come around tomorrow around the same time tomorrow, okay? You still have a lot to learn, and it's my duty as your 'master' to help you out!"

"…woah, you're amazing! Thanks a lot, Argo-sensei! Seeya tomorrow!"

As the boy Logged Out, the hooded girl couldn't help blink in surprise. Sensei? That…hadn't sounded so bad, really…

Meanwhile, on the real world, a quite excited Kirigaya Kazuto skipped downstairs towards the kitchen, eager to share his day's adventures with his little sister, only to blink in surprise upon not seeing her there. Tilting his head to the side for a moment, he smiled upon hearing the familiar sound of a shinai being swung, making him walk towards the backyard to see her standing there in a red shirt and short pants, swinging the bamboo sword with practiced and determined swings.

"…I have never ceased to admire how determined you look when you do that." suddenly commented the black-haired teen, making the 13-years-old girl squeak and all but drop her shinai, head swinging towards him while surprise colored her features.

"O-Onii-chan?! Geeze, don't startle me like that, I thought you were still inside that game-thing of yours!" complained Suguha while pouting at him.

"Well, it was almost time to make dinner so I obviously have to come out and help you." smiled Kazuto with his usual brightness, making a similar smile appear on the girl almost unconsciously. "I couldn't just let you do it on your own, right?"

"Heh…thanks." muttered her while leaning down to grab her shinai, a curious look on her face as she once again looked at him. "Kazuto-oniichan…is that game really so fun?"

"…well, I wouldn't say it's the game itself what attracts me. After all, I really sucked at it until someone just showed me how to play." admitted the strange boy before looking towards the sky with a strangely heavy look, making her adoptive sister worry all of a sudden. "No, what I really like about that virtual world is…how normal I feel in it."

"What…do you mean with…?" whatever Suguha was about to say was interrupted when a wasp suddenly flew around her, heading straight for her face. "Woah! Kya…!"

 _Something_ shot through the air, as fast as a bullet, striking the bug out of the air before it could even touch the young kendoka's face, turning the wasp into paste. Blinking, the girl stared towards several worried-looking red/yellow eyes, though they suddenly seemed panicked as the tendril quickly receded, her gaze following it until it sank back into the boy's hand, Kazuto suddenly looking away while biting his lips.

"So-sorry, Sugu…I shouldn't have done that, i-it was just…a reflex…"

"Onii-chan, what's wrong? You…you do things like that all the time…"

"Yes, but…it's not normal, right?"

No, it wasn't. Not at all, nor by any definition of the word. In fact, most people would have been terrifying by it. A part of the girl's mind knew this and accepted that she should be terrified of it, of the nature of the boy before her.

…but she wasn't. She had never been, and she would never be. Despite not being a kid who would hide behind him from a monster in her closet anymore, she just knew that there was nothing to be afraid of in him. All she saw when looking at him was nothing but the person she cared for most in the world.

And that's when she understood, what he meant when saying that virtual world made him feel _normal_.

Suguha wasn't sure when she had crossed the distance separating them to hug him, the boy stiffening in surprise, but she did not care. She simply reached out and pushed him towards her, tightly wrapping her arms around his trembling frame, feeling his accelerated heartbeat as she buried her face on his shoulder.

"Idiot."

"Su-Sugu…"

"Mom told you. I told you too, but let me repeat you again, you're what you are, and I don't care. You're still my dear Onii-chan, no matter what." whispered the young kendoka, a small blush creeping up her face as she did so. "Always remember that…I love you, okay?"

"…thanks, Sugu." answered Kazuto with more honesty any normal person should be able to muster, lovingly caressing the girl's head as he closed his eyes.

Losing herself in the feeling of peace, safety, and happiness that his arms gave her (And hers to him), Suguha wondered if maybe she should get one Nerve Gear herself to play with him when that SAO game officially came out.

For now, though, she was content with just preparing dinner with him, even as he happily grabbed what they needed with several tendrils coming from his shoulders.

Truly, even if it was a bit weird, her everyday life with him made her truly happy…

* * *

 _"What is a teacher but someone who has something to gain from teaching?"_ – Unknown (Probably got bad grades at school).

* * *

As the sun set over Aincrad's 7th Floor during October 20th, Argo couldn't help but feel a bit…bad, about how things were.

Things were going amazingly on the front lines, she had managed to get tons of special information and discover secret spots, find hidden Quests, identify where rare materials could be found in the first Floors, leveled up more than she ever thought she would…really, the only 'bad' thing that had happened to her in any way was that damned old man NPC from the 2nd Floor putting those stupid whiskers on her face and refusing to remove them unless she broke that freaking rock to learn his Martial Arts Skill, which she had to abandon after wasting an entire evening with little to no progress. Surprisingly, though, the things had grown up on her and everyone seemed to think they suited her, even starting to nickname her 'The Rat', and not exactly in a mocking way. The few that did quickly learned their lesson after she threw 'HIM' at them.

And that was the crux of the matter. The boy that was happily sitting next to her as they watched the virtual sun starting to vanish over the horizon in the never-ending sky where Aincrad floated.

"Ready for the Boss Fight tomorrow, Argo-sensei?" asked Kirito with his usual smile while operating his menu, looking excited at the thought. "I got us the info you needed for its starting stage, so we're going to totally kick ass there!"

"Heh…yeah, we sure are gonna, Kii-bou…"

Once again, a twisting sense of guilt filled the hooded girl's head. At the beginning, it had been so easy to tell herself she was just going to hang up with him for a bit to see what he did, then to help him get better…but the truth was that most of her incredible success in the Beta she owed it to the fact that she had found and 'controlled' the famous 'Smiling Swordsman'.

Most people would hesitate or doubt when in a fight or something like that. The one against the First Floor Boss had found more than one of the Players dying because Illfang's roar had scared them so much they tried to run away and got killed because of it, only to be teased endlessly later for their friends because of it…

But the boy at her side was an exception. Kirito was never afraid, never hesitated during a fight. He just…smiled. Even laughed most of the time, a lot, with almost childish carefreeness. What at the beginning had weirded out many of the Clearers had quickly become awe at his absurd skill, and his ever-present smile became a part of why he gained that nickname, and something everyone associated with him.

Her presence with him was the other one.

She wasn't stupid…she knew the endless rumors that circulated around her, how she was taking advantage of him, always teaming up with the boy to level up and all but pointing him in any direction she wanted, never missing a Boss Fight only because she had him as a bodyguard…and the saddest part was that she _couldn't_ fully deny those claims.

Argo had been greedy. She had realized the astounding potential the boy had and his almost criminal naivety too. While a part of her always said it was just to make sure unscrupulous people didn't take advantage of him, the truth was that in a way she also wanted to take advantage of all that ability, like any gamer worth their name would. When the boy quickly got used to the game under her wing and became all but an unstoppable Experience-generating and Item-providing machine, she thought she had hit the jackpot.

By the time they arrived at the 3rd Floor, she had already started to feel like utter crap, shame and guilt filling her as the boy kept referring to her as his master despite how fast and easily he had surpassed her, ready to hear, do and believe everything she had to say about that world.

If she needed to gather some rare ingredient in the furthest edge of a Floor? Kirito would happily go and get it.

If she needed more info about a specific monster's attacks patterns? No problem, the black-haired boy would go slay dozens of them just for her.

If she was running low on Col because she had gone a bit over her head with the trading of info? He would give her all that he had earned that day with his usual smile.

If some player came talking shit about her because they thought she had scammed them? In would go her Smiling Swordsman, brutally murdering them while laughing (Which was a little creepy yet sweet at the same time).

It made her feel both horribly guilty…and thrilled. She had never been the most outgoing person with her personality, and she preferred very much relating with people through games online than in real life, so to suddenly have someone who would do so many things with and for her out of his own will, looking genuinely happy while doing so…it felt _nice_.

And yet, she couldn't help feeling that she didn't deserve the boy's dedication. Sure, they were real friends now, there was no doubt about that, but she HAD started it all by wanting to use his abilities to her benefit, and he _still_ did everything and anything she wanted if she so much asked.

One day, feeling particularly guilty, she had asked him if he wouldn't rather go around on his own, if he wasn't bothered by always being around her and helping her out instead of going ahead on his own, as she was more than sure he was perfectly able to by now…

 _"But…the game wouldn't be nearly as fun if I wasn't playing together with Argo-sensei!"_

That was what he had answered. She had never felt a bigger combination of happiness and guilt than when she heard those words.

Because Argo realized…that it was kinda the same for her. At this point, she knew she wouldn't enjoy the game as much if she didn't have her 'loyal sidekick' with her.

"…by the way, Argo-sensei, there is something I have been wanting to ask you." suddenly spoke the boy with a bright look, as if he had just remembered it. "Would you please hear me out?"

"Oh? Well, ask away, Kii-bou!" grinned the hooded girl while giving the boy a smile, promising herself that, from that moment onwards, _she_ would be the one who would dedicate everything she had to comply with his requests, no matter how crazy or strange they may be. "What do you need from your all-knowing master?"

"Would you marry me?"

And just like that, with those simple, nonplussed and hesitation-lacking words, the usual calm mask she always wore as 'Argo' broke into a thousand million pieces and only the girl underneath, 13-years-old Izawa Shiori, was left, her face a crimson mess as she took several steps back and stared at the calm smile on the black-haired boy's face as if he had suddenly told her he was going to eat her soul.

"WHA-WHAT?!"

"Yeah, there is a mechanic in the game for that, you know? I thought it would be the best for us!" 'explained' Kirito before, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, pressing something on his menu, the words [You have received a Marriage Proposal from Player 'Kirito'] appearing on the hooded girl's face, making her virtual face to burn even brighter. "So, would you become my wife, Argo-sensei?"

"Ah…ah…ah…!"

There was only one way Argo's overloaded mind could answer to that.

Blinking in confusion, the black-haired boy saw how his friend and in-game 'teacher' laughed like crazy before jumping off the edge of Aincrad, her voice vanished as she fell beyond the clouds and dying. His Friends List informed him she Logged Out seconds after the respawning.

"…why did she do that? I mean, she _should_ know that 'Married' players can share inventory, and that it would make us a way more efficient team that way…right?" wondered aloud the thoroughly confused Kirito while tilting his head, before shrugging and deciding it was about time he Logged Out.

Taking off his Nerve Gear after waking up, and still confused by his game friend's actions, when a familiar sensation of tension, animosity, and heaviness in the ambient made him smile brightly and rush downstairs, already knowing who he would find in the living room.

"Hey, Yuuna-chan, how are you?"

Effectively, the brown-haired girl was sitting there, doing her usual routine of exchanging 'sweet smiles' with Sugu's dark glares, filling the house with a ton of clashing murderous intent in the process, but that quickly changed when the boy's words reached them, both their faces changing into excited (In Yuuna's case) and happy (In Sugu's case) looks upon seeing him.

It happened so often that he was already more than used to it.

"Ah, Kiri…I mean, Kazuto!" greeted the young songstress while waving at her friend and 'musical rival'. "Damn, you seriously make me wait, you know? You shouldn't let a girl waiting for so long!"

"I'm sorry, Yuuna-chan. I was so concentrated in scouting for the next Boss that I forgot our latest 'Singing Duel' was today…" sadly apologized Kazuto while looking down, making both girls' make a sharp intake of breath at how he suddenly looked like a kicked puppy.

"We-well, I tried to tell her you were busy and that she didn't need to wait here, Onii-chan." quickly commented Suguha while sending him a smile, though that quickly turned into a small glare as she looked towards the other female. "She _insisted_ on staying, though…"

"Yeah, well, as I told your dear _little sister_ , I have no problem waiting for you to finish, even if I'm still a bit peeved that Kayaba-jii invited you to SAO's Beta and not me." muttered Yuuna with a frown, before sending one of her wide _smiles_ towards the young kendoka. "It's not my fault she's too much of a _little girl_ to understand the concept of patience."

"…I'm just 3 years younger than you…" acidly answered Suguha with a twitching eyebrow.

"Well, I'm still a head taller than you." was the brown-haired girl's _kind_ answer.

"Ugh…well, I regularly practice sport instead of being a wannabe idol, so I'm going to grow up a lot!"

"Oh yes, without a doubt, you're going to get a lot cute little muscles from all that kendo practice, Suguha-chan! You will surely look beautiful like that!"

"Kuh…!"

A couple years later, Yuuna would surely look back at this moment and remember Suguha's angry and slightly teary eyes with despair, thinking about how karma had truly coming to bite her in the ass regarding the younger girl's _'growth'_.

Kazuto, for his part, was for once not paying close attention to the girl's animosity towards each other (Something that had puzzled him since the day they met on his birthday), nor trying to decipher while they seemed to emphasize certain words of their conversation, as he was still quite deep in thought about the events of before.

Then, he realized that maybe it was something only a girl would understand and that he had the two girls closest to him together in the same room, so he may as well ask and see if they could help him understand better.

"Hey, Sugu, Yuuna-chan, can I ask you something?" spoke aloud the curious boy while looking towards them, making his friend and sister blink and look at him.

"Ah, what is it, Onii-chan?"

"Something I can help you with, Kazuto?"

"Well, you see, I just asked this girl to marry me a couple minutes back." explained the black-haired boy while scratching his head, not noticing the way in which both females froze, their eyes widened, mouths opened and their brains came to a screeching halt. "But she reacted by going all crazy and jumping off the edge of a Floating Castle, so I wanted to know if you knew what could have triggered such a reac…girls? You okay?"

"Yo-you…someone…marriage…" spluttered out Suguha while her gaze seemed to waver between anger, confusion, pain, and shock.

"What?! How?! When?!" shouted Yuuna while all but teleporting at his side, gripping his shoulders with a desperate look. "Si-since when do you have a girlfriend in SAO?!"

"Eh? Girlfriend? What are you talking about, Yuuna-chan? The one I asked was my gaming-master because I wanted to use the mechanic of that game function to increase our efficiency as a team as she taught me." clarified a confused Kazuto, vaguely aware of how both girls' faces slackened in relief and that the brown-haired girl let go of him looking suddenly very tired. "I don't have a girlfriend, nor have I ever really thought about that…"

"Ah…thank heavens, of course Onii-chan wouldn't be…wait a minute." stopping her relieved muttering, the young kendoka's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Kazuto-oniichan…you didn't just go and told her _that_ out of the blue without explaining yourself first, right?"

"Uhm, yes, I did. Why?"

"…you're the worst." was all that Yuuna said with a deadpanning face before walking away towards the door without a word, leaving the gamer utterly flabbergasted. "See you some other time, Suguha-chan."

"…eh? Wa-wait, Yuuna-chan, what about our usual Singing Du…?!"

"I'm NOT in the mood for that right now." was all that the girl said before exiting the house without even looking back.

"…what in the wo…? Uh? Su-Sugu…why are you looking at me like that?" fearfully muttered the boy at noticing the dark look his little sister was giving him.

"…I…sorry, Onii-chan, I know it's not your fault to be so…LIKE THAT…but I feel that if I keep looking at you right now my empathy for that poor girl will make me hit you with a shinai until it breaks against you hard skull." flatly answered Suguha before heading towards the dojo. "If it doesn't bother you, I will be discharging my frustrations on my poor bamboo swords."

"…I'm SO confused right now." admitted Kazuto once both girls were out of his sight, putting a hand on his forehead as he felt at an utter loss. "…maybe it's something I AM supposed to know? Uh…ah, I know! Kamen Rider has helped me out with existential problems before, so I'm sure I can find something to help out with this on the internet too!"

If any of the two girls had heard that declaration, they would have immediately rushed back in and maybe stopped the madness about to be unleashed. Sadly, they didn't, and, as such, the inhuman boy was free to run upstairs towards his computer and begin his 'research'.

On a side note, remember kids, you should never try to use Internet or Television as a viable source to solve your personal problems.

Whatever the case, though, the next day Kirito would connect and rush towards a nervous-wrecked Argo, then apologize profusely for 'confusing and toying with her feelings in a careless way'. She would still kick him off Aincrad with an angry red face but eventually forgive him after that day's Boss Battle.

And so, life once again changed without anyone noticing…

* * *

 _"I cut off its limbs, and nothing. I split it in half, and nothing. Finally, I cut off its head…but the thing just kept smiling all the way."_ – Unknown (Totally not ominous foreshadowing)-

* * *

August 31st was quite an important day in Aincrad. After all, it was to be the last day of SAO's Beta Test and, after quite some deliberations the last few days, the Clearers had decided that they would enjoy the last day with an epic 'last fight'.

And that was why the 10th Floor Boss was being faced that morning, even if they all knew they wouldn't be able to fully explore the 11th Floor at all. Because, in the gamers' words, there was no better way to end their time as Beta Testers than with an epic combat against a powerful enemy.

Kagachi the Samurai Lord certainly didn't disappoint, the demonic-looking samurai falling down on the Testers with brutal speed, unholy roars, and wide-area Katana Skills that even the best Players had trouble fighting against. Before the homicidal shine on the Boss' red eyes, the fight should have ended in at least one full defeat before they were forced to waste a lot of time to get back and fight it again…

"Ahahahahahah! Yeah, that's it! Man, this is so exhilarating!"

"Kii-bou, could you please not laugh as that thing tries to behead you?! This is a serious battle and probably our only chance!"

"Oh, leave him be, Argo-san! That stupid laugh of him it's the only thing stopping the whole Raid from collapsing, after all!"

"Yeah…isn't it sad that we have all grown so used to it that…? HOLY SHIT! Did he just jump over that swing without blinking?!"

"Dammit, Kii-bou! Stop showing off!"

"But, I'm not doing that! I'm just having fun with Kagachi-san here!"

"GRAAAAAAH!"

"…I think the fact that it's not fully centered in slashing you apart indicates that he doesn't think the same, Kirito."

"Ah…you may be right, Mr. Knight! Thanks!" SLASH! "Waaaaah! This is crazy fuuuuunnn!"

"…did he just somehow impale his blade through that thing's eye and it's now hanging from it as it rushes around trying to shake him off?"

"…yes…yes he is."

"Oh, good…then we aren't all going crazy…also, Argo-san, I don't know how many times I have told you, but your friend has some serious mental issues."

"Just…just shut up and let's take advantage of the distraction to beat that thing, okay?!"

Suffice to say, the Samurai Lord was beaten not much later, and the 11th Floor's main town quickly became a party center that most of the Beta didn't abandon for most of the day except for Logging out to eat or going to the bathroom.

On the closest edge of the floor, though, Kirito the Smiling Swordsman was silently staring towards the sky, his usual smile slightly diminished as he looked towards the slowly setting sun, tilting his head to the side.

"…I'm going to miss this."

"Now Kii-bou, don't talk as if this was the end of the world, we will be able to come back in two months." teased Argo's familiar voice as she walked towards him, making the black-haired boy give her a brighter smile. "…you ARE planning to buy the actual game when it comes out, right?"

"You kidding? I wouldn't miss it for anything! I have even made sure of saving up a lot just for that!" grinned Kirito while giving her a classic 'peace sign', only to then blink and look at her sadly. "Still…I'm going to miss you till we can meet here again, Argo-sensei."

"…yeah, sa-same here, Kii-bou." embarrassedly accepted the hooded girl while looking away, a hint of red creeping up her avatar's face as she sighed and then gave him one of her signature grins. "We can keep in contact if you want, though! I…I don't mind given you my e-mail address…"

"Oh, that would be cool, Argo-sensei!" happily replied the boy with another smile before quickly sending the girl a message, making her blink upon seeing it. "There, that's mine!"

"…honestly, why do you make everything seem so simple?" chuckled Argo before writing her own address and sending it to the ever-smiling swordsman. "There…well, I-I guess that's all…it's starting to get late and I promised to help my mother with dinner today, so…talk to you soon, Kii-bou."

"Will do, Argo-sensei." softly replied Kirito with a calm smile, looking straight into the hooded girl's eyes, making her virtual breath caught in her throat. "Meeting you has been, without a doubt, the best thing I had the pleasure of experiencing within this world. Every memory we have made here together will always be an irreplaceable treasure for me. So…thanks, really, Argo."

Argo's mouth opened and closed several times, like a fish out of water, her brain trying to recover enough to send enough signals at the Nerve Gear for her avatar to react beyond simply 'blushing like hell'. Finally, she managed to meekly nod with a trembling smile before her hands blurred faster than they had ever done to operate her menu and Log her Out.

"B-bye, Ki-Ki…Kirito!" were her last words before vanishing from the virtual world, the girl standing on her bed with a burning face and trying to shake off the memory of the boy's suddenly serious and attractive smile, at odds with his usual goofy attitude.

Back in Aincrad…the black-haired swordsman blinking before smiling in triumph and happily raising a hand.

"Woah, anime was right; being sincere and saying with that tone and expression _does_ make girls happy!" exclaimed Kirito looking as if he had just made an exciting discovery. "I need to remind and do the same to Sugu next time she helps me out…oh, and to Yuuna-chan when we have our next singing match, I'm sure that will improve their moods…"

Slowly trailing off, the boy glanced at the edge of his vision, which showed how the Beta Server would close in a little over a minute, at 19:00. Nodding softly, his gaze moved towards the virtual sky surrounding Aincrad once again.

Taking a deep breath, Kirito backed off…and ran to the edge, jumping upwards and forward with all his might, feeling the virtual wind whipping at his face as he spun around and reached out with his hand towards the top, wishing that he could fly towards the sky, that the 90 Floors that separated him from the highest point of that castle would be reached if he could just go a little higher.

Then, virtual gravity took hold and he started to fall, Aincrad's 10 cleared Floors quickly passing by him as he kept reaching upwards with his hand.

[The Beta Server will Close shortly. Thanks for your participation, Testers, we hope to see you all back during the game's Full Release…]

Hearing Cardinal's voice announcing those words, the black-haired boy closed his eyes with a satisfied smile.

"Soon…I will be back, Aincrad."

When he next opened his eyes, after the sensation of 'falling' had suddenly disappeared, Kirigaya Kazuto was staring at his room's ceiling through the opaque visor of the Nerve Gear, a smile on his face as he stood up and yawned, feeling hungry.

After a quick trip to the kitchen and eating a 'light snack' consisting of what most would call a full breakfast, the boy wondered what he could do given that he was alone in the house (His mother wouldn't come until very late that night, as usual, and Sugu was staying at a friend's house to finish her homework).

A part of him felt tempted to go to his room and maybe read or watch something online, but he had promised his mom not to overdo it with such things, and he had just finished playing a game for several hours, so the best thing to do would be…take a stroll around town.

With a smile, the boy grabbed an apple and walked to the courtyard, noticing it was starting to get dark, but most of the lights were still out in the street and neighboring houses. Perfect.

Being mindful of his surroundings, the boy let his senses sharpen all around him, his awareness to reach even the smallest things around, as if he was hearing and seeing from every pore of his body. Then, he jumped into his house's rooftop effortlessly.

He took the time to make sure no one was watching and that no cars were passing through the street before jumping towards the next house. And the next one.

Most people would be content by a light jogging if they wanted to get some fresh air. Kirigaya Kazuto, however, seemed unable to not confuse that concept with some extreme parody of parkour.

Then again, he knew he wasn't exactly a normal teenager, so that was okay with him. Between the efforts of his mother and sister, he had slowly but surely managed to accept himself.

So, what if he wasn't exactly human? What if he could do things most would consider sinister or terrifying? What if he could turn into a thing that the world would call a monster without a doubt? What if he was right now jumping between buildings, squeezing himself between impossible places and climbing through spots no normal teen should be able to?

He still loved his family like any other person, he still enjoyed every day like any normal person, and he still looked forward to seeing a friend like any boy. There was nothing wrong with him.

And as he stood atop the roof of a particularly tall building near the center of Kawagoe, he could almost fully believe that. Almost ignore that small part of him that let him look down towards the cars and people going through the street and see himself as something different than them, less and more at the same time. He could almost truly ignore it.

 _Almost._

"…maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all." sighed Kazuto while shaking his head, casting a look at the sky. "I should probably start heading back ho…"

"Caw." came from just beside the boy, making him blink and look towards the jet-black crow staring at him with a curious look, as if wondering what a human was doing up there.

For his part, Kazuto slowly smiled before raising his hands and clapping once.

A sound no human could hear vibrated through the air, making the bird blink several times before cawing again and then flying towards the boy's shoulder, easily settling there and then picking at his cheek several times with his beak.

"Heh, stop that, Mr. Crow!" laughed the boy before caressing the crow's head with a small smile. "What? Are you feeling lonely too? It must be hard, being up here all by yourself, uh? Then again, I guess I can understand it…despite everyone I have, when I'm doing something like this, a part of me can't help but feel…as if I'm all alone…"

The young teen knew it was wrong. It was like spitting on all the love Sugu and their mother gave him, in the care that his father gave him despite being far away, in the happy moments he had with Argo-sensei and Yuuna-chan…but in the end, it couldn't fully mask the simplest of truths.

He raised his hand before his face, the crow staring at it curiously. It bloated, split and grew, the skin breaking, darkening, and teeth-like spikes grew from it, even as several monstrous eyes, _his eyes_ , opened through it, staring at the world and giving him an even bigger perspective of it all. He could all but feel how the eyes on his head had changed too, their human appearance being replaced by the same inhuman visage.

This…this was the one thing that wouldn't change no matter what. Something that set him apart from his family and friends, that would always make a part of him feel alone. There was only him of…whatever the hell he was, after all.

Idly, the crow flew from his shoulder to his arm, inspecting the mutant limb curiously before trying to peck of its many eyes. The sharp beak found itself feeling as if it had struck solid rock, the yellow/red organ not even blinking at the bird's action.

Releasing another caw directly towards his face, the crow took flight, circling around Kazuto a couple times before going away.

Almost unconsciously, the boy followed after it.

 _"Ah…that must be nice."_ he found himself thinking as the night fully covered the world, being forced to be quite fast to follow the bird's path. _"Those wings…I wish I could have them too…"_

It was probably around 15 minutes later that they arrived at a mid-sized park, which the young teen vaguely remembered as the one he and Sugu had met Keiko-chan years ago. Idly, his gaze looked around for the twin-tailed little girl; even if logic dictated that there was no way she would just casually be in that same park, much less so late at night.

Finally, though, the bird arrived at a relatively tall tree, making Kazuto tilt his head to the side at seeing it settling on one of the branches. Without hesitation, he jumped upwards, hanging from the center of the tree with inhumanly sharp 'fingers' and moving up towards the branch where the crow was.

As soon as he reached it and saw what was there, the black-haired boy was unable to contain a surprised gasp.

The black bird stared back at him from the small nest it was resting on, two simple eggs lying under it.

"I see…you aren't alone at all, eh, Miss Crow?" muttered Kazuto with a small smile, feeling a weirdly nostalgic feeling at the simple yet touching sight. "You're doing your best for those two little ones, eh? Yeah…maybe I should stop worrying about what I am and just enjoy my time with those I love too…"

The crow cawed again and opened its wings, flying upwards as if to give the boy the reason…and was promptly hit by a rock straight in the chest.

Time seemed to slow down as the smile was wiped away from Kazuto's face in an instant, being replaced by a look of abject horror as he saw the black bird fall down with its wings before itself.

"Hah! I hit that critter dead on!" shouted one of the two punks that were standing not far from the tree, grinning at his 'precise throw'.

"Oh man, that's not fair." complained the other one while scratching his heavily dyed hair, releasing a frustrated sight. "I have missed every single one of my throws so far…"

"Eh, don't worry man. I'm sure that you will get at least one good shot before the night is ov…"

Something massive and amorphous crashed before the two punks, making them freeze and their eyes to widen. Tendrils whipped into the air, even as eyes opened and teeth-like spikes grew menacingly over them…

Screaming like they had never before in their lives, both teens ran as if the Devil himself was chasing them, shouting about a monster trying to devour them.

Kazuto paid them no attention, nor tried to retract his transformed arm as he jumped down and scrambled to the place where the crow had fallen, fear filling his ever step.

The bird was on the grass, unmoving. Leaning over its body and touching it, he felt no breath coming from the slightly collapsed chest. His own heart stopped beating.

"Hey…Miss Crow? C'mon, wake up…you can't…you can't go out like this…what about those two little ones? They need you…" tears gathered at the edge of the young teen's eyes, red in color as they fell from his inhuman eyes. "Please…"

There was no response.

Kazuto _SCREAMED_.

All around Kawagoe, people jumped, animals went crazy and heads snapped around, fear and confusion spreading at the inhuman and melancholy-filled roar that had just shaken the city.

Back in the park, the black-haired boy sobbed and screamed, not caring for the tendrils that whipped around his body or how his right arm was impaling the earth repeatedly in a fit of mindless rage.

All on his mind was grief, sadness, and anger. All that he wanted was to hurt something because he couldn't do anything else. He couldn't even save that small…!

One of his tendrils hit the bird and, almost unconsciously, burrowed deep into its chest. Eyes widening, Kazuto felt a wave of revulsion filling him at what he had done…until he felt IT.

Splitting and expanding, his strange appendage connected to the crow's inside, like a network of mutant blood vessels.

 _-Nonresponding lungs, heart failing, chest muscles and bones caved in, brain starting to lack oxygen…-_

How did he know all of this? He wasn't sure. He knew enough about biology to understand some of it, sure, but it was as if his body itself was just letting him know by instinct. Eyes widening again, he bit his lips so hard they bleed as he tried something.

The same way he could instinctually change his monstrous body back and forth its human form, he willed the tendril's inside to change. Blood vessels, a small new set of lungs, a direct connection to the bird's brains…

He started directly feeding oxygen to it. In seconds, the crow's most important organ was stable, despite its body still dying otherwise. Kazuto was unable to contain his gasp of shock.

This…how was he doing this? He didn't care, not at all. If he could do this, then maybe…just maybe, he could still save the small creature. If only he knew how, if only he could dig deeper within himself, towards the root from which this strange knowledge, this _instinct_ was coming from…

 **(Do. Not.)**

There. There it was. He could just feel it, something that always had been there, but that he had never looked for, something buried deep within himself…deep within his cells, inside his very own DNA…

 **(Do. Not. They. Watching.)**

But…what was that other thing? It almost seemed like…words.

They weren't in Japanese or English, the only two languages he knew. They sounded more like growls and snarls, inhuman sounds that made no sense yet he could somehow understand, and that seemed filled with…worry.

 **(Just. Eat. Just. Rest. I. Protect. You.)**

For a moment…the black-haired boy could almost put an image to the sounds. Something massive and strange, looking over his inhuman body as it devoured everything in a forest in a carefree daze. Something staring at him with eyes…identical to his.

 **(I. Kill. I. Destroy. You. Rest. You. Eat.)**

Screams and roars echoed, as the _other thing_ tore apart everything that came near him, with unholy brutality, not allowing anything to approach him.

 **(Do. Not. Stand. Out. Together. Survive. You. Eat. I. Protect. You. Rest. I. Endure.)**

A warning, buried deep within his very psyche, on his very own DNA. Don't change. Don't do things that make you stand out. Because they're watching. Because like that you will be safe.

…and without hesitating, he threw it aside and brutally reached deep within himself.

He didn't care for himself in that moment. He had to save another life, no matter how insignificant it may be.

The images and the worried eyes vanished from his mind, erased and cast aside together with the warnings. Gasping, then screaming, Kazuto felt his body convulse.

Shapes of all kinds, of many sizes, of countless colors, of endless types…

Bizarre shapes, vaguely familiar shapes, biologically impossible (From Earth's biology perspective at least) shapes…

Claws, teeth, nails, fangs, mouths, heads, eyes, noses, feet, hooves, antennae, horns, tentacles, tails, wings, organs, skins, epidermis, cartilage, bones, bacteria, fungus, plants…

 ** _SO MUCH!_**

He didn't know, he never knew, that there was so much 'information' stored inside of him. Things he had eaten in a period before the life he could remember, now little more than fragmented shadows, all of it bubbling to the surface of his mind and his very skin. He was vaguely aware of how his right arm was mutating out of control and turning into some monstrous 'tree' of flesh and limbs, but he couldn't care any less in that moment. Kazuto had just made the biggest discovered of his short (Human) life.

With an almost giddy feeling, the boy 'discarded' all those half-broken memories, all the half-remembered images of tanks, of pain, of strange skies and alien forests, of him eating all of those things that tasted disgusting compared with Sugu's ramen or his mom's stew.

That done, and shoving aside the elation he felt at having enough 'memory' now to last him a lifetime without fear, he turned his attention back to what he had conserved, the DNA of everything he had eaten at some point he couldn't, nor cared, in remembering.

Like some kind of bizarre biological factory, the thing in which his right arm had become, several times his size by then, came alive, new tendrils shooting from it into the small body of the crow and getting to work.

Broken bones? Restore them…then make them better, harder, stronger, beyond their already natural resistance. But maintain their natural hollowness and make them as light as they could be, so that it could still fly.

 ** _Easy._**

Damaged muscles…fixed, refilled, strengthened, especially on the chest and wings. Hardened to the extreme, make sure nothing like a thrown can hurt it again…

 ** _So easy._**

Wings, claws, feathers, beak…restored, improved, upgraded. Make the lungs better, the air sacs more adaptable and versatile. Fix the heart, get it beating again and put everything back together, restore all connections from the inside out.

 ** _TOO EASY._**

Finally, connect it all back to the brain he had been maintaining intact. Make sure the cells that came from him won't try to devour the old ones but work together with them. Symbiosis, if he recalled his biology classes right, but there was no time to dwell in the how or why now, he just did it, rewriting the DNA and making sure it was all in its right place, then making the new signals for the creature to understand its new anatomy without panicking or losings its mind…

It was done.

Panting, he retracted it all, letting go of the new body while he felt the flesh around him collapse and put itself back together, even as he drew it all within himself again and return to 'normal', his once again human body shaking slightly, the boy finally noticing he had all but ruined his clothes.

The sound of something moving before him made his head snap up, though, seeing the dog-sized _thing_ before him shake, then flap its wings several times, looking at him with its 3 eyes. After several seconds, it suddenly shrunk, shifting slightly several times until only the normal-sized black bird was staring at him, one eye its normal jet-black…and the other a red slitted one with yellow sclera filled by black veins. After a small blink, though, it returned to normal.

"Caw!" came from the crow's throat as it flapped its wings while Kazuto STARED.

Slowly, his face split into a smile. Soon, chuckles were escaping his mouth as he reached out and held the bird in his hands. In no time, full blown, never-ending and seemingly mindless laughter was echoing through the park, which would have made anyone that hadn't run away from the earlier scream to get out of there even faster.

After all, nothing could be feeling so utterly and maniacally **_Happy_** from anything good…right?

At that moment, in Tokyo, on Waryum's hideout, the sleeping alien didn't notice how the device he had managed to salvage from his lab, which doubled as a communication beacon and a weapon (Though sadly not as an accurate tracker for his escaped experiment) violently activated, detecting something it had been programmed to inform and transmitting a quick signal into the stars.

Because of how small and limited a device it was, despite it still being transmitted at a speed several times faster than light, the signal and the warning it contained would take quite some time before arriving at its destination, a ship stationed somewhere several star systems away.

When it did, though…the two High Researchers in charge of it, Ubom and Grotek, would be shocked beyond belief and quickly issue an Omega-Level Warning towards their home planet, together with a petition for Search and Capture of a highly valuable and dangerous experiment.

Back to the present, though, it would be a quite normal night in Kawagoe despite the many people wondering what the hell the earlier sound had been, and the next day, Kirigaya Suguha would wake up to take some fresh air from her house's backyard before doing her usual morning kendo practice…only to blink at noticing something quite peculiar.

Since when did they have a crow's nest on their house's roof?

As if hearing the young kendoka's thoughts, the black bird sleeping on the small nest opened one of its eyes, looking at her and offering a lazy wave of its wings before once again closing it over its eggs. Suguha blinked in confusion, before shrugging and heading to practice.

Sleeping in his room with a smile still on his face, Kirigaya Kazuto dreamed about a brighter future.

The World subconsciously shook in fear…

* * *

Releasing a worried sigh, the woman known as Asada Akira walked towards the room at the end of the hallway, a tray with a quite delicious breakfast on her hands, stopping before the closed door and knocking several times on it.

"Shino, dear? Breakfast is ready."

The sound of a surprised squeak came from within the room, then that of a chair moving as papers fell and, finally, the one of someone hurrying to the door, before a 13 years old girl with disheveled hair and glasses on her face opened it, still in her pajamas and looking at her mother with obvious surprise.

"Ah…mom. Wait, it's time for breakfast already? Crap, I lost track of time again…"

"I know, dear, that's why I brought it to you." kindly smiled the woman while entering the room, ignoring her daughter's embarrassed blush in favor of looking at the small and, in some people's opinion, quite strange room.

The walls were filled with newspapers articles or printed news from the internet, so much that it was difficult to see the color of the wall in some places, not to mention small handwritten notes, all of it sharing one same and quite 'strange' theme.

 _'Are we really alone in the Universe?'_

 _'Sightings of Strange Creatures all over the World since…'_

 _'Aliens: Why the government doesn't want us to know the truth.'_

 _'Myths and Legends of the Strangest Places known by Man.'_

 _'Are Monsters from Beyond hiding among us?'_

 _'Abductions: Scams or Hidden Truth?'_

 _'An alien suspected of working at a ramen shop in Akihabara…'_

 _'Where is he?'_

That last one was probably the oldest of the handwritten notes, and it was the title of a childish drawing that hung just over Shino's desk, filled with papers and a small laptop.

In the drawing, a kid was standing in the middle of a poorly drawn post office, some long and curved black line coming from his chest and striking the badly designed gun on the hands of an ugly-looking man, childish scribbles of an explosion surrounding the weapon.

Akira remembered her daughter had made it when she was 10, and she had even gone so far as to plasticize the thing to make sure it wasn't damaged or anything.

"Sorry again, I overslept because I was up late finishing the weekend's homework." muttered the young girl while adjusting the glasses her mother knew she only wore because they 'helped her think', as her sight was perfect. "You know, didn't want anything to distract me from today's research…"

"Yes, dear, I know." replied Akira with just a slightly exasperated tone, though still smiling towards Shino's happy look as she dug into her breakfast.

The woman knew her daughter was a bit…complicated, to say the least. She didn't really have any friends, at best some acquaintances from school, and it was no secret that many children her age called her 'weird'.

But, to put it mildly, Asada Shino did not give a fuck about that. She was strong-willed enough to back off anyone that thought to mock her was a good idea with just a glare, and she had even started to learn some minor martial arts through internet videos. After all, in her own words, she was a girl with a mission.

To uncover the dark secrets that haunted their seemingly normal world, and expose the truth of the strange beings from beyond that hid among them.

The bespectacled girl's obsse…uhm, 'hobby' had started 3 years ago, in that fateful incident in the post office. To be honest, her mother still thought that the strange boy had just been lying, like any kid trying to act cool…even if everything told her that it hadn't been the case, that he had been acting way too calmly for any kid that had suddenly found himself in the middle of a robbery, that the robber had actually hit him and fallen back in pain and not just tripped by mistake when trying to do so, like had been the official report…

But whatever was the case, Shino seemed convinced that the mysterious boy that had disappeared shortly after the incident had grown some sort of tentacle from his chest and blown up the robber's gun, and had sworn she would find him and get the full truth from him. What Akira had initially thought would be just a small childish self-promise had soon somehow her daughter's center point in life.

Saddest part was that she couldn't exactly reprimand her or simply cut off her strange obsession, as, her ability to make friends aside, it had somehow benefited Shino in every other aspect: The girl regularly exercised herself (To keep in shape in case she needed to fight or run from any alien or monster, in her words), her grades had improved so much she was almost always among the top of her class (All that 'research' she did making school easy, in her words) and she was still a caring, diligent and loving daughter.

Still, as she said goodbye to the bespectacled girl and told her she was going to work, Akira couldn't help that nagging worry that her dear Shino would never make meaningful friendships if she kept herself obsessed with those things.

Passing by the living room to turn off the TV, she happened to stumble upon a publicity announcement about that new game that supposedly was going to show the fullest capabilities of the recently started and already worldwide famous VR Technology, Sword something online.

Putting on a thoughtful look, the woman came to a decision. She was going to get Shino one of those things as a gift and try to convince her to try it out. Maybe seeing a 'different world', even if it was within virtual reality, and interacting with people there would help her open with others a bit more.

After all, it wasn't as if she would find anything related to her 'hobby' or that weird boy inside that game, right?

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** You know, when going through this chapter again, a part of me was thinking that it wasn't creepy enough compared with previous ones. And that made me think, since when the fuck do I worry anything I write isn't CREEPY enough? …I think this story is starting to make me go crazy…

Anyway, that aside, and in case it wasn't obvious already, I'm pretty much going to use the non-deadly SAO here as the medium for everyone to interact and meet/reencounter each other. That's going to be quite interesting, that's for sure. Expect more Kayaba next chapter for that!

And, once again, writing this particular Kazuto has been…interesting, to say the least. You can clearly see the tons of differences between him and the Canon one, and even their similarities are for extremely different reasons. He enjoys SAO for different reasons, he isn't competitive at all or a full Gamer hungering to complete it all or be better than others, he mainly does it for the fun of it. That Argo saw this and slightly selfishly helped him exploit his potential is another matter entirely. Also, he wears his emotions on his sleeves because of who/what he is, and that shows. His 'naivety' isn't because he's dense, but mostly because of how he sees the world and people very differently than a normal person would (Remember, he's already as old as canon Kirito was when he was trapped in SAO, yet he's obviously way more…childish, so to speak). And as shown in this chapter, that may not be totally his fault, subconscious or not (Remember Grotek and Ubom saying he was 'stupid' compared to his 'sister'? Well, I put a hint as to why that may have happened in this chapter, heh). Oh, and the Kirigaya now have a harmless, normal and adorable crow pet! Hmm, what's a good name for a crow…?

Finally, kudos to Apex and Tomon for knowing Sinon was going to be quite 'different' because of how the incident that shaped her life in canon went very different too, more to the former as he more or less was spot on in knowing how she would be XP That's going to be…funny :3 (Talking about funny things, if you didn't get the Yuuna-joke, at this point Sugu hadn't hit her, ehem 'growth spurt'. At 13, when Kazuto ended in SAO, she was 'smaller' than Shino...somehow, in the next two years, she grew to the point of making girls two years older seem small XP Okay, onto another topic...)

Anyway, next time, Kazuto meets some old friends, things get weirder all around...and he may learn while using anime as an example in how to handle relating with girls isn't a good idea XP

Okay, for now, that's all. Have a good weekend, everyone.

Till next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	4. Chapter 3: Carpe Diem

Okay, that's it. After this, no more distractions, I AM going to take advantage of these short vacations to finish the next chapter of Requiem Universus, I swear!

…well, my existential crisis aside, here we are once again with another chapter of my weirdest story yet! Once again, it's more centered in character development than anything else, and there is little to no weird alien action for Kazuto's part, but that will be fixed next chapter…a bit too much, maybe, so relax while we can.

And man, when I saw some of you recommending names for the little crow I got all excited and touched for your enthusiasm...until I remembered something that will more than likely make you all groan in despair and that I was gonna do anyway to keep the plot consistent: The ona naming Miss Crow had to be KAZUTO. And as you know how this inhuman and childish boy is...yeah XP

Also, a character many have been waiting for is introduced this chapter, so look forward to it!

 **PS:** I fixed a small mistake last chapter with Yuuna's age upon finally finding with the right one, btw, in the part where Sugu says how much younger than her she is. Not that much, but I still thought I should let you know to the ones that haven't seen it yet O,O (And yes, that officially makes her the oldest girl of this fic's main cast, over a year older than Asuna) Also, for those interested, I found an official design of her character in both SAO and IRL at her current age (16) and put the image on my profile if you want to go take a look :3

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Carpe Diem**

 **September 1st, 2022. Tokyo, Japan. Argus Main Building, 18:30…**

Kayaba Akihiko had to suppress an annoyed sigh upon seeing who was waiting for him in the waiting room. When he had been told he had an unexpected guest, he had almost assumed it was his peculiar 'friend', but really, when had he ever come in through normal means? And so, he had headed towards the waiting room, only to find…

"Kayaba." greeted the bespectacled man while standing up, though it was impossible for him to fully hide the distaste in his voice. "It's…good to see you again."

"Well, forgive me if I don't fully believe you, Sugou." replied the creator of Sword Art Online while eyeing the man before him. "May I ask to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

Sugou Nobuyuki visibly snorted while slightly pulling his suit's tie, looking to the side with a mix of annoyance and resignation.

"My boss sent me to see if I could make you reconsider your offer of not lowering the price for the Cardinal System's patents."

"…and he sent YOU for that?"

"Someone told him we knew each other from back at the University and then from Shigemura's institute, and I couldn't exactly just tell him I didn't want to see you." grumbled the man before shaking his head and regard his 'acquaintance' and 'rival'. "So, are you going to reconsider it?"

"Tell Mr. Yuuki that I'm flattered, but that the price and stipulations have been confirmed and set by the whole of Argus, and that I won't be changing them no matter how much you offer." calmly replied the lab coat-wearing man while turning around, ignoring Sugou's deep scowl. "Have a good day."

"C'mon now Kayaba, we both know that you have more than enough influence to strike a deal with Argus' board of directors if you wanted to, especially with your most recent successes." pressed the bespectacled man with a stubborn tone while walking after his not-friend. "Think of it as an opportunity for RECT and Argus to work together in the future! Besides, having good ties with the future CEO of such a company can a great boon for you, you know?"

"Oh? I wasn't aware Yuuki Shouzou was going to step down from his position…" idly commented Kayaba while heading towards his lab, wondering if there was any chance of his 'guest' to just give up and stop following him. "And why are you so sure he will name YOU his successor?"

"Everyone needs to step down at some point, Kayaba, and old man Yuuki has been in charge for a long time. Besides, I'm the most obvious choice, as I'm not only the company's research institute but also his daughter's fiancé."

"…you mean, the daughter that's like, 10 years younger than you?" questioned the father of Virtual Reality while looking at his former coworker with disbelief, idly reaching to put the code needed to enter his lab.

"Heh, age is not a problem, Asuna is a beautiful young woman raised by the highest standards, and I'm sure she will be a great wi…"

"Hey, I also know someone named Asuna!"

"KYAAAAA!" screamed Sugou like a lunatic upon the sight of a smiling teenager with jet-black hair standing at the other side of the door, with a small black bird sitting on his shoulder while lazily pecking at its feathers.

"Hi, Kirito." greeted Kayaba without showing any surprise, walking past the suddenly pouting boy and heading towards his main computer, not even shocked at finding it turned on. "Long time no see."

"You could at least act surprised, Kayaba-san…" complained Kazuto while shaking his head, the bird on his shoulder cawing in agreement.

"Wha-what the hell?! Who is this kid?! How did he even get in?!" demanded the bespectacled man while pointing at the nonchalant boy, who looked back at him curiously. "And…is that a crow in his shoulder?!"

"How rude, her name is Kage-chan." informed Kazuto while scratching the crow's head, which cawed happily in answer. "And she's my family's pet and spirit animal."

"It can't be a spirit animal if it's alive, Kirito." plainly answered Kayaba while typing something on his computer.

"Of course she can! I asked her if she could and she accepted!"

"…for some reason, that doesn't even surprise me…"

"Hello?! Is anyone going to answer my questions?!"

"Oh, yes, I'm Kirito, Kayaba-san's secretary! A pleasure to meet you!" greeted the boy while finally turning towards the outraged Sugou, grabbing his hand and shaking it up and down with surprising strength. "Also, wouldn't you happen to be talking about Yuuki Asuna?"

"Eh? Ho-how do you know Asuna…?" questioned the bespectacled man with narrowed eyes…while nursing his pained hand from the teen's overly enthusiastic handshake.

"Well, she saved my life some years ago when I fell from the sky into her pool and almost drowned, then helped me realize I was being an idiot for worrying my family…" responded Kazuto without missing a beat, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "I felt tempted to call her a couple times after that to say thanks again, but I thought she had probably already forgotten about me and my sister always say she probably was very busy doing things people in high society does, so I didn't…are you really going to marry her?"

"Ye-yes, I am…" muttered the man while blinking in confusion, as he had never been told anything about his fiancé _saving the life_ of a boy that fell in their pool and that was something he assumed at the very least her mother would have informed him of.

"Woah, you're very lucky, then! Asuna is a very caring girl, and very pretty too!" congratulated the boy while his crow jumped from his right shoulder to the other. "Even if your face is a little creepy, I'm sure she will still be a great wife for you!"

"Heh, yes, indeed, she will…wait, what was that about my face?!" all but screamed Sugou upon realizing what Kazuto had said.

"See? When you scream like that it looks even creepier!" pointed out the smiling boy while Kayaba tried and failed to suppress amused chuckles.

"Yo-you insolent brat!" snarled the bespectacled man before glaring towards the once again neutral-faced creator of SAO, though the trembling of his lips didn't go unnoticed by the shaking Sugou. "And you, Kayaba! I don't know what you're playing at by letting kids in your lab, but if this is how you're running things then you can bet RECT will surpass you even without your damn Cardinal System!"

"…technically, I will be 15 in 3 months, so I'm no longer a kid by biological standards." helpfully corrected Kazuto, ignoring the man's twitching look as he added _'I think'_ under his breath, making 'Kage-chan' shake her head.

"That's great to know, Sugou. Now, if you could please go away? I have to finish this early, I have a date later." casually dismissed Kayaba while bringing up several files on his computer.

"Oh! It's with Rinko-san?" excitedly asked the black-haired teen to the bespectacled man's shock, even as the creator of SAO nodded with a soft smile. "That's great! Congratulations, Kayaba-san!"

"Wa-wait, you're dating Rinko?! As in, Koujiro Rinko from college?!" half-shouted Sugou, seemingly unable to believe it.

"As a matter of fact, yes, that Rinko." confirmed Kayaba without showing any outward reaction, still calmly typing away on his computer. "Why so surprised, though, Sugou? Yeah, she rejected all your advances in college, but now you have a fiancé and a happy future, so it shouldn't bother you…right?"

Instead of answering verbally, the bespectacled man growled in annoyance and, after giving one last glare towards the curious-looking Kazuto, stomped out of the lab, not looking back even once.

"…you know, I don't think he is as happy as he, as you pointed out, should be." commented the black-haired boy with confusion, the crow on his shoulder cawing in agreement.

"Sugou Nobuyuki is…a very complicated person. Not the friendliest of men, too competitive and greedy for his own good, and someone who would go very far to get what he wants." informed the father of Virtual Reality before giving the now frowning Kazuto a sideways glance. "You should try and stay away from him, by the way. He wouldn't react as positively as I did to your…quirkiness."

"You may be right, but…" looking towards the door once again, the uncharacteristic frown in the teen's face only seemed to deepen. "Asuna-san is going to marry with such a person…?"

"It's more than likely something arranged by her parents, I doubt the girl has any said in that."

"What?! Arranged marriages in this age?! That's…stupid!"

"You will find I totally agree, as a fan of progress, but people with enough money or power still seems fixed in the old ways…" stopping working for a moment, Kayaba turned to look towards his strange friend once again. "So, is there any special reason you and this…Kage of yours came to visit me?"

"It had been a long time, and I also never thanked you for inviting me to SAO's Beta." quickly answered Kazuto, though the man could see there was still some indignation on his face at the previous news. "Also, her whole name is Kage-chan, not just Kage."

For a moment, Kayaba Akihiko deadpanned towards the inhuman boy, before remembering that this was the same boy who had used to the first two syllables from his surname and the last one from his name as a 'secret identity' when introducing to him.

"…Kazuto, do the world a favor and let whoever YOU marry name your kids."

"Hey, that's mean!" complained the black-haired boy while glaring towards the lab coat-wearing man. "Also, I don't think I would ever find anyone to really marry, because I…well, you know…"

Oh, yeah. With all the silly talk and how used he was to his weirdness, he had almost forgotten the _tiny_ detail that the teen before him was actually some abomination that seemed to come from some madman's worst nightmares. Immediately, combined with the previous line of thought, that sent another haunting thought to his head: Could the boy _reproduce_? Did his body even allow for that? And if so, how…?

Yes, okay, better to kill any thought related to that right now. Especially because Kayaba had noticed more than once the not-so-subtle glances Yuuna, who he had started to see like some sort of niece at some point, sent towards the boy, and to even think that her…oh, yeah, he _really_ didn't need those images on his head, at all. Killing, erasing and Cardinal-blocking that line of thought… **now**!

"A-anyway…did you want to know if anything from the Beta would be carried over to your account?" questioned the older man with a nervous smile, making Kazuto blink and look at him with childish curiosity. "You must have been wondering that, right, given how the game is coming out in 5 days?"

"Really? Will something carry on? I would have expected everything to be reset in the official launch…"

"Well, that was the original plan, before…you know." trailing off, Kayaba saw no malice nor blame in the boy's face at the reminder of what he almost did as he caressed his crow's head, staring at him with a calm smile. "So I decided some small bonus should be given to the Testers as a reward for their help…you're not keeping your levels, of course. It wouldn't be funny if one Player could solo the first 3 Bosses or so by himself, would it?"

"You say that as if you hadn't changed anything in the Bosses from the Beta, which you most certainly have." scoffed the actual Tester before looking excitedly towards the man. "So? What are we getting?!"

"Ah, ah, that would be telling, right? No one likes getting Spoilers."

"Oh, man, that was just plain teasing for no reason!" complained Kazuto before shaking his head, once again smiling softly as he gazed at the man. "Seriously, though…it was good to see you, Kayaba-san. I'm glad you're doing okay. Good luck with your date!"

"Thanks, Kirito. For everything." sincerely answered the man before turning around once again.

"Also…I looked through your files again. Don't worry, I'm sure you will manage to get all the necessary upgrades to the Nerve Gear's software out in time before anyone able _and_ willing to pay for Cardinal's patents to use it for unsavory purposes shows up." came the black-haired boy's from behind him, making Kayaba blink. "You're awesome like that."

"Caw!" seemingly agreed Kage-chan.

When the gray-haired man turned around, however, there was no trace left of either the young teen or his pet crow. Smiling softly at the empty room, Kayaba Akihiko returned to his work, compiling the latest information to make sure the Mental Health Counseling Programs ran smoothly…and subtly adding a line of Code to make them look out for the player known as Kirito.

Call him paranoid, but he actually wanted to make sure the inhuman boy didn't have any psychological problems…besides his seemingly unending childishness, that is.

And if it indirectly maintained Yuuna as nothing more than friends with him…well, he was sure the girl's father would thank him for that…

One didn't need to be a genius to notice Dr. Shigemura had been more than suspicious of how much his daughter liked to spend time with Kazuto, after all…

* * *

 _"Be fruitful and multiply."_ – God (Perfectly summarizing mankind's most basic desires).

* * *

It was finally November 6th, and Sword Art Online's Official Servers were just a couple hours from starting to work. Across the country, the first batch of 10000 copies of the games had vanished from shelves within less than 24 hours from its launch the day before, and requests to Argus for more had already flooded everywhere.

However, for Kirigaya Kazuto, none of that mattered, as he was currently looking in surprise towards his smiling sister presenting him with a bright new Nerve Gear and a copy of SAO.

"Woah…Sugu, I can't believe it! You're actually going to play with me!" cheered the black-haired boy before hugging the girl, making her laugh with a small blush.

"We-well, you said so many great things about this game that I just knew I had to try it out!" replied Suguha with her own smile as her adopted brother let go of her. "I even canceled my kendo training for today to play with you!"

"…is that okay?" asked Kazuto with a suddenly worried tone. "I know how important kendo is for you; I wouldn't want you to miss it just because of m…"

"Onii-chan, idiot." was all that the girl said before mock-hitting him in the chest. "Kendo is important to me, yes…but you…uhm, I mean, I can perfectly stop practicing for one day without problem to spend some time with you, don't underestimate your little sister!"

"A-ah, forgive me for that, Sugu!" apologized the boy while sticking out his tongue, getting a giggle out of Suguha as answer.

"Caw!" commented a certain crow from her place on the table.

"Gah! Oh, Kage-chan…please, stop doing that." muttered the young kendoka while eyeing their pet-crow, still not used to her tendency to pop up out of nowhere. "I still can't believe mom let you 'kept' her…"

"Well, it's not as if she has anything to complain about. I mean, she doesn't even live in the house, and her nest is in our roof!"

"Same nest that wasn't there the day before?" added Suguha with a small smirk, making her brother blush and look away while mumbling. "Now c'mon, I have no idea of how to set this thing up and I need you to help me do it!"

And so, Kazuto spend the next hour helping his little sister calibrate her Nerve Gear, explaining the basics to start off in SAO and tell her where he and Yuuna (Who had also gotten the game) were planning to meet up. Her smile seemed to widen when he talked about how surprised the sing-loving girl was going to be when he showed up with her, which made him happy too, at how well those two got along.

That done, the boy smiled at her, told him to wait for the exact minute to Log In with him and headed bad to his room excitedly, lying down and putting on his Nerve Gear.

Somehow, he just _knew_ this was going to be an amazing day.

"Link Start!"

Minutes later, the swordsman Kirito was standing once again on the plaza in the middle of the Town of Beginnings. Almost giddy with excitement, the Beta Tester couldn't help but jump in place and shout happily, ignoring the looks many other, also just Logged In, players gave him.

"I'm back, Aincrad! This is going to be the…!"

"KYA!"

"UAH!"

With the sound of two bodies hitting the ground, Kirito's high-speed celebration ended, both he and the girl of long orange hair smashing into each other and the ground.

"Ooouch…wait, eh? It…doesn't hurt?" wondered the fallen girl with utter confusion.

"Well, yes, SAO doesn't actually let you feel pain, you know? That wouldn't be fun at all, never mind all the legal issues there would be because of it…" answered the boy while standing up and helping her to her feet, the girl suddenly scowling at him, though confused when he saw his honestly embarrassed and apologetic expression. "Sorry about that, by the way. I was just so excited about coming back here that I didn't see where I was going…"

"We-well, be more careful next time, okay?" half-heartedly reprimanded him the orange-haired girl, unable to truly get angry with him for some reason. "A-also, what do you mean by 'coming back here'? Wasn't today supposed to be this game's first day out or something?"

"Oh, yeah, but only for the Official Servers. I was a Beta Tester, so I got to be here in Aincrad a couple months back." explained Kirito while sticking out his tongue, making the girl look at him in surprise at his revelation and carefreeness. "Ah, I'm Kirito, by the way."

"Asuna…that's my name, I mean."

"Really? Man, what a coincidence, I know an Asuna in real life too!"

"You…do?"

"Yeah, but she lives in this awesome mansion and it's a very strict but caring and determined girl…she even saved my life once!" described the swordsman with a nostalgic smile, making the girl's mouth drop in shock as she STARED harder at him. "Not the type that would be playing a game like this, I gue…"

"Kazuto-kun?!" all but screamed Asuna, making the boy freeze and look at her in utter surprise. "Is…is that really you?"

"A-Asuna-san…you used your real name as your avatar's name…? No, wait, forget about that, it's you!" all but shouted Kirito before hugging the life out of the girl and spinning her around, making her squeak and blush in embarrassment as people looked around in confusion. "I can't believe it, just 5 days ago I was thinking about you!"

"Ka-Kazuto-kun, sto…wait, you were? Really?" asked the surprised player, clearly not having expected to hear that.

"Yes, I did! For…reasons…" muttered the swordsman with a small frown at remembering Sugou Nobuyuki, before his grin returned as he finally let go of the flustered girl. "Also, you shouldn't go around saying real names in the virtual world, you know? It's considered impolite! Why did you name your avatar the same as yourself?"

"I…this is my first time trying a game like this and I didn't know what they meant when demanding a 'Nickname' at creating the account, so I went for the easy thing and put my name…" admitted Asuna while looking away, half-expecting the boy to mock her or something.

"Oh…well, no biggie, we all make mistakes when trying out something new." happily understood the black-haired boy, making the girl look back at him again in surprise. "I see you tried to make your avatar resemble your real self a bit, but it didn't go well…your chestnut hair is way prettier than this standard orange!"

"Yo-you are just saying that to make me forget about crashing on me, the-there is no way you can remember it properly after so many years…" muttered Asuna while glaring at him, though with little actual anger behind her words.

"No, I'm being honest." countered Kirito while tilting his head, the half-forgotten quirk she only got to see a couple times that day years ago somehow making the girl realize the serious honesty in his words. "I have a very good memory for anything that's important to me…and you saved my life. There is no way I could ever forget you, Asuna-san. If anything, I'm more surprised by the fact that you remember me…"

The girl, for her part, was now trying very hard to not look at the boy, telling herself she didn't mean anything special with those words, or the bay in which his eyes bore into hers when he said them with that extremely emotional tone, all the while her quickly beating virtual heart seemed to not give a fuck about her thoughts.

Truth to be though, she hadn't really forgotten about him even once since the day they met. How angry/worried her mother had been later that day when she arrived home and her brother told her the news was deeply engraved on her mind, as well as how she argued hotly against her when she seemed to consider suing the boy's family for 'putting her daughter' in danger, to the utter shock of her mother and brother. That was the first time she ever opposed anything her mother said. For the young girl, however, there was something much more important to care for than that.

She had saved a life. Actually prevented someone from dying. And being only 13 years old at the time, this had affected her quite deeply. She started thinking more about the world in general, not only in her own future and grades as her mother always told her. She became curious about many things, spend some hours looking information about the world, about people living in it, how the lives of others, that weren't as fortunate in life as she was, were…

Her mother clearly didn't approve, but Asuna did not care. With the memory of that shaking boy soaked from head to toe as he helped him outta the pool in her heart, for the first time, she had decided she wanted to try a new path. One she had chosen herself.

That of trying to make the world a better place for others, helping out in ways other people couldn't…

And now, just because she had gotten curious about the game many had been talking about in her private all-girls High School and on the news for months, both Nerve Gear and game abandoned because her brother(Their actual owner) had to go on a business trip at the last moment, she had met him again.

Could this be…Fate?

"Onii-chaaaaan! Where are you?!" suddenly came a slightly annoyed shout from the fountain near the plaza, attracting several stares and making Kirito blink, before he paled in horror.

"O-oh no! Sugu! I forgot I had to reunite with her!" gasped the boy in fear before running towards the voice's source, making Asuna look after him in confusion

Sugu…as in, his little sister? She could barely recall the young girl, who had all but fused to her brother's arm in worried fear when he walked out of her house…and that sent her a lot of strange looks for some reason. Nodding to herself, the girl followed after the swordsman, seeing him profusely apologizing to a beautiful girl of blonde hair in a ponytail and green eyes…and a figure that couldn't be real in any way if she recalled how the girl actually was IRL right. Luckily, this was only the virtual world and nothing like that could actually happen for real.

"…really sorry!"

"How could you just forget about me like that?! And after I canceled my practice just to spend time playing with you…Onii-chan…you're so mean! Idiot!"

"I-I didn't forget, Su…uhm, 'Leafa', I swear, it's just that I ran into an old friend I wasn't expecting to see again all of a sudden and…!"

"Wait, a friend you weren't expecting to see again? Who are you talking abo…?"

"Hey there. It has been a long time, Sugu…no, sorry, not used to this virtual world thing yet, it's…Leafa-san here, right?" greeted Asuna with a small smile, making the blonde girl look at her approaching form in shock, before her eyes narrowed in thought.

"Wait…long time…you know my name…know Onii-chan…A-Asuna-san?!" half-shouted Leafa while taking a step back.

Out of all the people she thought they could coincidentally find in that virtual world, the girl that had saved the life of her adopted brother (Something that made her both eternally grateful and wary of her the first and only time they met before) _wasn't_ one of them. She had honestly expected to never see the rich girl again.

"Yeah, it's me…uhm, there is no problem, I guess, as my…Avatar? is also called that."

"…you named your avatar the same as yourself?" asked the blonde girl in disbelief, even her who never played any games knowing that you simply didn't do that out of common sense.

"We all make mistakes, Leafa, don't be too hard on her." laughed it off Kirito while scratching his head, making Leafa sigh in answer and Asuna to look at him gratefully. "Okay then, we are only missing one person before…!"

"Guess who?" came a familiar singing voice from behind the boy, making him jump around in surprise and squeak, a girl of long white-silver hair and red eyes grinning at him before making a victory sign. "Heheh, take that, Kirito! I totally caught you off guard!"

"Yu-Yuuna-chan, don't do that!" complained the swordsman while Asuna resisted the urge to laugh and Leafa rolled her eyes. "It's not funny!"

It wasn't his fault that he had half-forgotten that his inhumanly sharp senses didn't exactly work within the virtual world. The boy was just too used to be able to know and hear when anyone tried to sneak up on him or simply recognize someone he knew well enough by their 'presence' within a building, so to speak, like he was used to with Sugu, his mother, and Yuuna.

"Onii-chan, didn't you just said it was impolite to call someone else by their real names?" commented his adoptive sister with a small smile.

"A-ah, that's right! So-sorry about…!"

"Nah, don't worry, Kirito." waved it off the white-haired girl before grinning and pointing to herself "After all, my name within this world is Yuna, so it wasn't that big of a mistake!"

A second of silence passed.

"…you also called yourself the same that in reality?" questioned Asuna with a curious look.

"Wha…? No! It's YUNA, not _Yuuna_!" complained the girl with a small pout. "A-and who are you anyway?!"

"That's basically the same thing…" deadpanned Leafa while shaking her head.

"And this is Asuna-san! She saved me from drowning when I was 12 and I fell into her home's pool by mistake!" cheerfully revealed Kirito, making the orange-haired girl look at him with wide eyes while Yuna's mouth opened in shock.

"Wha-what?! You never told me you almost drowned before meeting me!"

"Heheh, uhm, it's not exactly something that comes up in a conversation, don't you think…?"

"Yeah, Yuna-san, Onii-chan is right. It's not as if he has to tell you _everything_ about himself, you know?"

"We-well, he still tells me everything that matters about himself because I'm his best friend, you kno…? Wait, why are you smirking, Su…Leafa?! And why are you looking away, Kirito?! What aren't you two telling me?!"

Staring towards the 3bickering 'friends', Asuna couldn't help but feel a smile tugging at her lips.

It seemed that entering that game had been more than worth it in many ways.

* * *

 _"You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family…or the friends of your family."_ – Unknown (Guy probably screwed up a lot in his personal life).

* * *

A couple hours had passed since the dissonant group had met up in the plaza of the Town of Beginnings, and now one could find them out in the fields a couple of kilometers from the city, the wolves and board mobs from the surroundings being slaughtered by them.

"Good work, everyone, you're doing awesome!" cheered Kirito as he saw Yuuna swing her sword in a slightly clumsy 'Vertical', while a somewhat puzzled-looking Leafa beheaded the wolf before her with a scimitar.

"Still can't get used to this…" muttered the blonde girl while looking over her weapon, before looking back towards her smiling brother. "Are you sure I will be able to use a katana later by using this?"

"Yep! To unlock the Katana Extra Skill, you will need a high enough level with Curved Sword Skills!" confirmed the black-haired boy before turning towards his friend. "How are you holding up, Yuna-chan?"

"Hmm…more or less okay, but I don't think fighting is my strongest point in this game." commented the white-haired girl while lowering her own blade, staring with a smile towards the setting sun. "Everything is beautiful and amazing here, so I'm sure everyone has something they're especially good at what they put effort into, and…"

"Waaah!" loudly shouted the last member of the group, making the three of them turn around in time to see orange hair flapping in the air as Asuna became something akin to a shooting start, brutalizing the wolf she was fighting against via rapier-impalement and making it explode into polygons. "…hey, you know, this is actually pretty fun! Cathartic, even!"

"…and then there is miss prodigy here who somehow seems to be a natural with a blade." gloomily muttered Yuna with a small frown.

"Yuna has a point there, Asuna-san, you're _really_ good with that rapier." commented Leafa while crossing her arms. "Are you sure you have never done fencing or something like that before?"

"Nope, the most I have done is a bit of tennis during school!" confessed the orange-haired girl while lowering her weapon. "But if I imagine the monsters are my next super-annoying exam, it becomes relaxingly easy to do this!"

"Heh, everyone has their way of doing this, I guess." joked Kirito before picking up a rock from the ground and calmly tossing it behind him, the Throwing Skill activating and killing the wolf trying to sneak up on the group, making the girls look at him with slight awe, his own ability with the game clearly surpassing theirs in all ways. "Hmm…it's almost 17:00, so it means it's finally time for me to meet with Argo-sensei again! Man, it has been so long without seeing her face to face…we should get going!"

"Argo-sensei?" curiously asked Asuna while looking at the other two girls, who were suddenly exchanging uneasy looks. "Who is that?"

"It's…a friend of Onii-chan that he met while playing the game's Beta." explained Leafa as they followed after the boy. "She's the one that taught him how to play and apparently also his game-partner of sorts during the month he played…"

"He also stupidly asked her to marry him." huffed Yuna with an annoyed look, causing Asuna to trip over her own feet, barely stopping her fall with her hands only to look at the two girls with wide shock.

"He asked her what?!"

"Yeah, we reacted pretty much the same way…turns out, though, Onii-chan only did so because that function in this game gives you an advantage by sharing Inventory with the person you're 'married' to." clarified the blonde swordswoman while scowling at the memory, even as Asuna shot her, then the retreating Kirito, a look filled with disbelief. "As you can guess, he didn't explain himself properly and the situation with the poor girl became…a bit awkward for several days. At least he had the decency to apologize the very next day, but…"

"He took _an entire day_ in realizing what he had done?! How old is he again?!"

"He turns 15 in January." informed the white-haired songstress while shaking her head, giving the humming boy a slightly exasperated look. "But to be honest, I think he has hardly matured since I met him…then again, there is also something charming in that childishness of his, but…"

"Onii-chan is…just very enthusiastic, that's all, he's still quite aware of what he does." waved it off Leafa with a nervous laugh, not really wanting to dwell in that maybe the 'slowness' of her adopted brother had something to do with his 'peculiar' nature (Not that she had any intention of explaining **that** to the two girls anyway). "But…just to be sure, let's make sure he doesn't make the poor girl feel bad again, okay?"

Surprisingly, Asuna found herself easily agreeing with the two girls on that. It was strange…she had 'friends' in her school, sure, but they barely talked much during classes, and mostly about their studies and similar things. She didn't exactly hang out with them outside school either.

However, with both Leafa and Yuna she had felt some strange…kinship. As if she could just 'connect' easily with both girls, talk with them and relax around them.

After all, they…treated her like any other normal girl. Even the blonde swordswoman, who had seen how she lived in real life, hadn't treated her any special because of her money or her family. And for someone like her, who wanted to understand people better to help them out, it was a very nice and comforting feeling.

Such thoughts followed her all the way back to the Town of Beginnings, then through some streets she hadn't gone through earlier, until a nice-looking street with what seemed like a couple of Aincrad-styled cafés and restaurants…wait, what?

"…hey, Kirito." muttered Yuna while looking around, a strange suspicious starting to creep in her mind. "Did this Argo friend of yours told you why you wouldn't just meet right away and instead several hours after the game began?"

"Nope! But then again, Argo-sensei did things I didn't understand all the time, so it didn't bother me."

"…and she cited you around HERE?" continued Leafa as they kept walking past the extremely relaxed shops, for a world where monsters roamed free for people to fight them to death.

"Yep! In that restaurant precisely!" clarified the boy while pointing to a fancy-looking building at the end of the street, which looked more like the spot one would choose for a nice and romantic meal than to meet up with a friend.

All three girls stopped, STARING at the back of the boy as he kept blissfully unaware and still heading towards the building.

"…is any of you going to tell him or should I do…? Eh? Wa-wait, what are you doing?!" half-shouted Asuna upon seeing the other two girls' eyes narrowing as they quickened to catch up with the boy, the orange-haired girl fast behind. "D-do you know that she most likely invited him here because…?"

"Yes." both of them answered in unison, not even slowing down.

"A-and that she probably thought he would come alone to…?"

"Yes." replied the duo once again, even as they finally entered the restaurant behind their merry 'guide'.

"…okay, just making sure." muttered Asuna with a sigh while Kirito looked around, his eyes widening upon spotting someone near one of the windows.

"Hey! Argo-sensei!"

"Ah, Kii-bou!" came a happy voice while the girl stood up, making the boy blink in surprise at seeing her clearly. "Lo-long time no see, eh?"

The reason behind the swordsman's surprise was because the girl, despite looking the same as in the Beta, was lacking her usual cloak, something he knew she could (And as far as she knew, would) buy right away from any of the cheap NPC stores around the Town of Beginnings. Also, she had her hair unusually orderly, with even a small mouse(Rat?)-shaped ornament. Not to mention the fact that she had changed her basic equipment for some more 'casual' clothes, those that weren't difficult to get if one knew their way around the quite sizeable town, but that didn't really have much use except looking nice, given that their Stats sucked, and it had been the girl herself who told Kirito how impractical it was to not just stay in your usual equipment within any city.

Of course, the idea (Fact) that maybe she had been looking forward to seeing him in 'person' again quite a bit more than he had flown right over the boy's head.

"Woah…Argo-sensei, is there a special reason why you look like that?" asked the swordsman while tilting his head in that way anyone that knew him enough could immediately identify as his. "Don't take it wrong, you look really pretty, but I'm not sure…"

"Geeze, still the same Kii-bou in person as you are through e-mail, eh?" chuckled the information broker even as she felt her cheeks tint red because of his words. "But well, I just thought we could use some time to relax a bit and tell each other how our first day back in Aincrad has bee…"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" loudly commented Yuna while jumping before Kirito and quickly grabbing Argo's hands, shaking them up and down. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Argo-san!"

"Wha…?"

"Yes, indeed!" added Leafa while stopping at her brother's side, all smiles and rainbows like her white-haired 'friend'. "Onii-chan has told us a lot about you!"

"Eh…?"

"Uhm…good afternoon?" offered Asuna while walking to the blonde girl's side while sweatdropping.

The info-broker, for her part, could only STARE at the three cheerful and beautiful (At least avatar-wise) girls that accompanied the socially inept boy she had known long enough to know incapable of relating with other normal people without thoroughly unnerving them enough to make them want to excuse themselves and get the hell away after just 2 minutes. While he had lots of people who talked of him with awe on the Beta, the main reason she was his only 'friend' was because no one else seemed able to stand his overly friendly and naïve attitude…

And now, _this_.

"…e-ehm…Kii-bou? Who are these people…?" questioned Argo with a slightly twitching eyebrow, which ruined her attempt to try and pretend to smile politely for anyone except the aforementioned boy.

"Ah, yeah, I wanted to surprise you! See, this is Leafa; she's my little sister (Remember I told you about her?). That one there is Yuna, my long-time friend. The former surprised me this morning telling me she was going to play with me and the latter already had plans for it, so I thought it would be cool if we all met up together!" happily explained Kirito before putting a hand on Asuna's shoulder, making her squeak. "And this here is Asuna-san, someone I knew years ago but casually happen to meet again earlier, so she also came along!"

"Oh…that's…that's great!" 'cheerfully' assured the girl of the whiskers (She had bothered to paint a replacement of her own ones quite quickly, it seemed) before pointing to the table she had been sitting in. "W-we may be a bit cramped because I wasn't expecting you to show up with so many people, but if it's not a problem…"

"Hmm, any problem, girls?"

"Nope!"

"You can also eat inside this game, right? I wonder what virtual food tastes like…"

"…sorry for intruding…"

And so, several minutes later, the strange group was now sitting on a table with an assortment of simple food before them, some meats and cheese together with vegetables and even two simple cakes. The new-to-the-game girls seemed quite interesting in experimenting what the food tasted like and comparing it to the real thing, while Kirito was happily recounting everything they had done today to his in-game-teacher.

The fact that he was sitting between Leafa and Yuna while talking to Argo at the other side of the table (With Asuna sitting at her side and frowning slightly as she chewed on a piece of cake) didn't seem to bother him in the slightest, but it was clear that the whiskered girl didn't share the feeling, if the slightly annoyed look in her eyes was anything to go by.

"…and then Asuna-san went by like a bullet and turned the wolf into virtual mincemeat with her rapier!"

"He-hey, stop exaggerating that, Ka…Kirito-kun, I was just doing it as I could…" complained the aforementioned girl after swallowing what she was eating, her frown somehow deepened as she did so. "…hmm, this could use a bit more of vanilla…"

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun with your friends and sister, Kii-bou…it's great to see your enthusiasm is still the same as ever." sighed Argo while giving him an honest smile. "Also, did you figure out what the deal with the Beta Gift is?"

"Beta Gift?" asked three voices at the same time, the girls stopping paying attention to their food to look towards the two Testers in confusion.

"You mean this thing?" questioned Kirito while opening his menu and materializing what seemed like…a simple round mirror with a silvery edge. "Mirror of Truth…I have a vague idea, especially after looking at the Description of the Item with detail…"

"Really? You got something out of that?" frowning, the usually hooded girl looked at her own menu, reading again what was written in there.

 _'For those who Accept their True Selves, the Words of Truth will take off the Masks. (Warning, Non-Transferable Item. Effects can only be shared with those in your Friend List)'_

"Yep, it's actually quite easy to deduce. But first, let me add you back to my Friend List…" doing the action with a quick movement of his hands, the boy then looked down at his mirror and, under the curious glances of the girls, spoke. "I'm Myself in Both Worlds."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then…the mirror **shone** with unnatural light, several gasps filling the table when Kirito _changed_.

Within the blink of an eye, the black-haired boy (Noticeably shorter than before) stared up with a face that was just slightly feminine, way more suited for his childish and specially wide smile as he looked at his reflection, then at his hands and finally at his friends with his real face, that of Kirigaya Kazuto.

"Wha…?!"

"Holy…! Kirito, you look like you do in reality!"

"Onii-chan, how did you do that?!"

"Wo-woah…you haven't changed that much in these years…ah, I mean…!"

"Heheh, not a problem, Asuna-san. And well, I was right…and man, for some reason it feels way more relaxing to look like myself in here." grinning, Kirito looked towards the still dumbfounded Argo, who kept _staring_ at him in disbelief. "Hi there, Argo-sensei! This is the real me…hope you're not disappointed."

"Uh…eh…what?" muttered the stunned girl before quickly shaking her head, waving off any ideas about it being unfair for a boy to look so cute or the relief she felt at he actually being a teenager and not a 10 years old like she sometimes had feared. "N-no, not at all, Kii-bou, I was just surprised! Tho-though, if you suspected what that thing did then you shouldn't have just used it before me…"

"Why not? You're a friend, so I don't mind you knowing how I really look like. Besides, it seems the effects of this Mirror are only shareable with those in your Friend List, and I think they can be adjusted too…" commented the black-haired boy with a carefree smile, before operating his menu a bit and then nodding to himself. "Yep, I was right…hey, I wonder if you can also share the _effects_ with someone in your Friend List? Yuna, Leafa, want to try it?"

"E-eh?!" half-shouted the blonde girl in surprise.

"Hmm…sure, why not? I'm not ashamed of how I look at all!" nodded the white-haired one while taking the mirror, only to send a slightly pitiful look towards the swordswoman at her best friend's other side as she did so. "Though I could understand you still wanting to look like an adult at least within this world, Suguha-chan…"

"Why, you…! Give me that mirror when you're done!"

"…hey, Argo-san, are you going to use your mirror?"

"Ahm…ye-yeah, I think so, it's only fair…why are you asking, Asuna-san?"

"…can I use it too?"

A couple of minutes later, it was a group of curious/awkward normal teenagers who was sitting around the table, looking at themselves and each other with evident wonder, Kirito especially taking his time to look at the girl with brown eyes and curly auburn hair that was feeling quite nervous under his stare.

"So-something wrong, Kii-bou?" questioned Argo while scratching her whisker-painted cheeks. "Ma-maybe I'm not as cool as my avatar…?"

"Hmm? No, not really, you still look cool and also quite cute like that." easily accepted the black-haired boy with his usual smile, making the girl look away with a small blush while the ones sitting at his sides sent him exasperated looks, Asuna just eating another cake while still looking at herself in the mirror. "It's just that I always imagined you older with how smart you are…"

"Yo-you thought I was older?" muttered the auburn-haired girl while wondering if she should take that as a compliment, but when taking into account she had thought he was a kid more than once…"

"And your look great with your hair longer, Asuna-san, it really suits you!" complimented Kirito to the eating girl, who blinked and looked at him in surprise. "Also, I was right about your natural color being prettier than the in-game one!"

"A-ah, tha-thanks, Kirito-kun…" replied the now chestnut-haired girl while idly playing with her hair. "Yo-you also look better like your real self…a-and you two too, Yuna-san, Leafa-san!"

"Huh, I still don't get how we can look like this inside the game…" commented the black-haired girl with a confused look before looking back at her brother. "Can we turn it off?"

"Yeah, it seems the Mirror has an option for that." explained the boy while putting a hand under his chin. "As for how, well, the Nerve Gear does ask for a scan of the body when you're calibrating it, remember? That's most likely how it got a nigh-perfect representation of our current bodies…"

"Man, to think Kayaba-jii would think of doing something like this…" commented Yuna while playing with the braid her brown hair had, before giving out an amused grin. "He certainly thinks a lot of interesting things!"

"Well, you know Kayaba-san, he has a lot of imagination…"

"…wait…why are you two talking as if you knew Kayaba Akihiko personally?" questioned Argo with a raised eyebrow, receiving a small laugh and a smile from the two teens in question. "Uh?"

"That's because we kind of do…" muttered the singer while looking away.

"As Yuna-chan said! She's the daughter of Kayaba-san's mentor and I'm his secretary!" happily revealed Kirito.

Argo stared at them open-mouthed, her hand moving from one to the other while trying to find her voice.

"…hey, Leafa-chan? Who is Kayaba?"

"The creator of the Nerve Gear and this game, Asuna-san."

"Oh…woah, then it's quite a big deal that they know him, right?"

"Ju-jus 'a big deal'?! Are you kidding?! Kii-bou! How is that you never told me that?!"

"Uhm…it never came up in any conversation?"

"…are you serious?!"

"Hah, that's how Onii-chan always is…"

"There is just no changing poor Kirito…"

And as the table descended into a mess of bickering, laughs, and conversation…Kirito couldn't help but smile even more widely on the inside.

This was certainly a peace that he could her used to enjoy forever…

At the same time, though, in the outer fields of the Town of Beginnings, a shocked pig-tailed girl stared in awe as a wolf was impaled to the ground with a spear.

"Woah…you're amazing, Sinon-san…"

"Thanks, Silica, but this is nothing." commented the girl of the spear while looking ahead with a determined look. "If I wish to find that alien boy, I will need to sharpen my skills even more."

"…alien boy?"

"Ah…damn, I shouldn't have said that aloud…just forget that you…"

"I…I once met a boy that could do incredible things. Things a normal person shouldn't be able to. He saved my cat when it got trapped in a very tall tree." Sinon's neck head towards the younger girl so fast that it seemed a miracle her neck didn't snap. "Mom and dad thought I was just making it up, and I never saw any of them again, but…do you think it may be related to who are looking for?"

"Was his hair black and he was smiling all the while for no reason?" upon receiving a nod, the spear-user almost shot to Silica's side, making the dagger-user squeak. "I can't believe it…someone else that has seen what he can do is right before my eyes! Playing this game was really…wait…did you say 'them'?"

"Yeah…he was with his little sister. Their names were Suguha-san and Kazuto-san…"

"…a sister? And…Kazuto…so that's your name, uh…?"

"…Sinon-san, your smile is scaring me…"

The most unlikely of friendships was also born that day…

* * *

 _"Not even Death can stop Fate."_ – Unknown (No kidding, 'She' tried once. It didn't end well for her…at all).

* * *

Somewhere in the deepest part of outer space, a very specific Emergency Warning was received by a certain Tryum Research Ship.

Shocked at its contents, the 6-eyed and 6-legged alien that had received the message ran through the ship's corridors as fast as his limbs carried him, heading towards the main Investigation Research Lab.

Arriving at the massive bio-mechanical doors, he waited for them to open with worried impatience before rushing in, ignoring the stares of the many workers inside as he headed straight for the two working near the center of the massive lab.

"High Researcher Ubom! High Researcher Grotek!"

"Eh? What's wrong, messenger?" asked Ubom with a curious tone, turning around to face the smaller Tryum.

"Yeah, we were in the middle of an important experiment." added Grotek while looking back at what seemed like a bull-sized hairless rat with 4 eyes hanging above a tank of what seemed strangely like acid, the nervous creature seeming scared shitless.

"O-one of your very own personal Alert Signals just arrived…" gulped the messenger with a nervous tone, both Researchers suddenly giving him their full attention.

After all, they only put those in any systems that were in charge of monitoring old experiment of theirs or projects in which they had worked one way or another, to inform them of an unexpected development or a goal reached in their absence. And for the young worker before them to look so worried…

"What exactly did the warning say? And where did it come from?"

"It's…from an Emergency Portable Console of Earth's Auxiliary Research Lab, sir." informed the alien while passing them a small terminal, both older Tryum exchanging looks at the name of the half-forgotten facility. "And…it's a Level Omega-Type Warning."

"Earth…wait, wasn't that where that idiot Waryum was sent with…?"

"Grotek…look at this, you won't believe it…"

"Hmm? What could you possibly…? What in Fate's name?!" Grotek's shout was so loud that every single Tryum within the lab turned to look at them, curiosity in their eyes at seeing the trembling look in one of their bosses. "…X-K0940…rewrote other living being's DNA…? But that…"

"Makes no sense." finished Ubom while pacing back and forth, clearly confused and excited. "All which that thing ever did was to laze around and eat all the time. No matter how many testing missions we did, no matter how many Programmed Protocols we tried to cram on its mind, it just did that over and over while X-K0941 did all the work…just…eat…"

"Just eat…" muttered the other Tryum High Researcher as his eye slowly widened. "…why did we never bother to think what it did with all that it ate?"

"You think…it was storing both biomass and DNA from everything it consumed? But, if that was truth, then…that would mean…"

"That while X-K0941 was the fiercest and strongest… X-K0940 was the true biological jackpot! If it can rewrite other living form's DNA's with its own…then it could be used to make a fucking army of those things! Inferior versions, yeah, but quality would end up not mattering over quantity!"

"…say…it can't normally reproduce, right?" asked a suddenly uneasy messenger, making both Researchers blink and exchange a look.

"…we don't think so?"

"I mean, we never really stopped to think about it as it was not a priority, and after all attempts at cloning with both of them failed, we kind of stopped looking into it and just took 41 home while sending it…or 'him' as Waryum started calling it…away…"

"A-and its sibling is the only other in its species, so really, there is no risk of that, at all…yeah."

"Then…are you sure it can't reproduce with any other life form, right?" insisted the young Tryum, who had read the records on both the appetite of the 'failure' and the brutality of the 'guardian dog'.

Several seconds of silence ensued.

"…Grotek, sent an Omega-Level warning home and demand for backup, we need to save a low-level planet from a possible Extinction Threat."

"At once, partner…oh, and I think I will contact Roiker Prison while I'm at it…"

"Eh? Why?"

"We want to try and recover him alive, right? Well… X-K0941 was always aggressively protective of its 'brother'. If there is any living being in this Universe that can find him and subdue it without permanent damage, it's 'her'."

"…and you think doing that is wise?"

"Oh, relax, we will have her under a Programmed Protocol and strict surveillance, it will be just like the old days during the Test Missions. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?"

On Its Throne above Everything, [FATE] felt the strangely human need of laughing. It promptly dismissed it, resuming Its eternal watch.

At that moment, back on Tryum-Delta, on the 'pit' outside Roiker Prison, now sealed with twice as many force fields as before…several yellow-red opened, staring silently towards the night sky.

Melancholic sounds that everyone else interpreted just as 'terrifying' escaped from the prison's guard dog, just like every single night since it had been brought there…

* * *

Akihabara was a big place, quite noisy and easy to get lost in. However, it was also well-known for most Japanese that there were little things you wouldn't find in this place, so it was perfect to search for everything from a casual gift to something you never wanted your family or friends to know you bought.

And it was through there that Kirigaya Kazuto was calmly walked through this day of April, the now 15 years old boy looking happily towards the bag he was carrying.

It had been almost 8 months since he started playing Sword Art Online, and he had been having the time of his life. He, Sugu, Yuuna and Shiori (Argo-sensei's real name, as he had learned some time ago) played together almost all the time, with Asuna actively joining them a month or so of irregular Logins after their first day (She said something about needing to convince her parents to let her play and her brother accepting letting her use his Nerve Gear all the time as he was rarely home). The Front Line had gone beyond Floor 10 a couple months ago and his excitement only grew now that they were in territory that not even the Beta Testers knew about. In fact, they were planning to tackle the 15th Floor Boss somewhere later that week. Now, however, he had more important things to worry about.

There were only two weeks before Suguha's birthday, the girl's fourteenth one, so the teen had taken advantage of it being a weekend to come to Tokyo and get his little sister a gift. He still remembered she still felt a bit annoyed after seeing Yuuna, Asuna, and Shiori's gifts for his last birthday, but he wasn't lying in saying that the birthday cake she had baked especially for him had been the best thing ever.

Sadly, he couldn't exactly afford something like a nano-carbon fiber shinai (Which he knew the girl would love to have) with the money he had saved, so he had decided to go through every shop he could find in the massive place that was known as Japan's otaku central to see if he could find something that Sugu liked. Given that he had known the girl since even before she could speak, there was probably no person better suited for such a task.

And so, now he was getting ready to head back home, the overly-decorated bag at his side firmly held as he walked through the crowded streets filled with all kind of things to buy and see when his stomach growled loudly, making him grimace and stop to rub it.

With the hurry he had for getting out of his home first thing in the morning without being noticed, he had only eaten half as much breakfast as he usually did (Essentially what any standard _adult_ man would consider a full breakfast and a half), and it was already lunch time. He was feeling quite hungry.

Just as he was considering if he should maybe try and find somewhere to eat in the many shops of the area (He had enough spare yen for it, if he didn't go for anything too expensive), a playful voice suddenly spoke from somewhere behind him.

"Heh, hungry, boy? Want to come and eat some delicious ramen in our amazing restaurant?"

Turning around, Kazuto came face to face with a pretty brown-haired girl with a big smile, a pair of white hairpins keeping her bangs out of her face while her dark pink eyes stared at him with amusement, and she had some cute freckles spread just under each of them. She was also wearing what seemed a Japanese Maid costume in black, but with some strange figures and symbols that made one think of outer space, like stars and moons. In her hands, extended towards him, was a small leaflet detailing the menu of the small restaurant just behind them 'Delicious Nebula'.

"Ehm…how do you know…?"

"Your stomach is growling like a hungry beast, dear." replied the waitress with a small smile, the boy blushing as the aforementioned part of his body growled once again. "See? So, what do you say about coming inside and eating something? …please, do it. This may be just a part-time job, but I still can't get over the fact that some guy in a costume manages to attract more clients than a pretty girl like me…"

"Oh, so you're just working here part-time…" commented Kazuto while grabbing the menu, seeing that he had enough for a couple servings of what was titled as 'Space Ramen'. "Hmm…I may actually buy something! Thanks a lot, uhm…"

"It's Rika, boy, and don't mention it, I was just doing my…oh, great, here comes my 'partner' to do his round." muttered the suddenly annoyed Rika before putting on a fake smile and wave towards someone behind the blinking teenager, who suddenly saw a quite large shadow covering him. "Good evening, Waryum-kun! You're a bit early today…"

"You know what they say about the early birds and the worms, Shinozaki-san." answered the 'strange' voice of the newcomer, his Japanese sounding heavily accented even as Kazuto turned around, wondering why his senses suddenly seemed to have gone into overdrive. "Oh, and what's this? Made a new friend?"

Finally, the inhuman boy's eyes settled on the tall figure, his heart literally stopping as he came face to face with the six red eyes that haunted his most ancient and half-forgotten nightmares, always staring at him from beyond the red water that hurt him, this time coming from the strange 6-legged creature standing before him.

Waryum, 3rd-Rate Tryum Researcher, stared at Kirigaya Kazuto, also known as Experiment X-K0940.

The terrified boy stared back.

And so, the hands of Fate started falling down…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** And that's a wrap for now! Woah, cliffhanger!

And yes, everyone's favorite character, Sugou Nobuyuki is here, rejoice!…ahahah, okay, no, it was obviously Lisbeth whose introduction I was referring to before the chapter started, sorry about that XD Apologize to those who were wondering where she was, but again, I couldn't really think of a way of fitting her in the story before SAO started that didn't seem forced, so I was carefully planning for it, and I decided that, why not have her work part-time where the unluckiest alien researcher of this story was also working? Liz seems like the type that would have done so at this time if she hadn't been trapped in SAO :P Also, Sinon and Silica have met and formed the Alien-Hunting Alliance (Not really XP). Expect to see more of what they have been up to during these months next time.

Finally, if someone was a bit confused about the scene of the aliens, this was mentioned near the end of last chapter, but the message took some time (A LOT) in arriving at them all the way to where they were, so this scene you saw in this chapter was not only a more detailed account of that (And of their _great intelligence)_ but also happened barely a few days before the last scene of Kazuto buying things in Akihabara. Also, hope you liked the idea of recycling the canon mirror Kayaba used to make everyone look like their real selves as a shameless plot device to let most of those we're used to looking like their real selves in SAO. Having to describe new avatars to everyone from scratch would have been too much, even if you all probably could easily remember Kirito's one with just rewatching the anime's first episode (And Yuuna's one, Yuna, was, as you may be deducing, the same one as the Yuna of Ordinal Scale, because I'm too lazy to imagine something more creative. Also, I indicated before the chapter an image of how she looks in SAO now, so yeah…).

Okay, I think that's all for now! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to what comes next…

Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	5. Chapter 4: What makes you Human?

And once again, here we are everyone, with another chapter of the probably _weirdest_ story within the SAO Fanfiction Archive. In several ways.

Before leaving you all with the chapter, though, I feel the need to answer something several reviewers have said/asked and is that yes, I DO know of the games 'Prototype' (Played both of them in fact), and that while I _may_ be getting some inspiration from them in some ways for how Lusus!Kirito's biology is, I'm also drawing from more twisted/crazy sources and also my own personal madness. To put it into perspective, down to a cellular level, this Kazuto would be Alex Mercer's worst nightmare. I will leave you to think about that until more is revealed :3

Oh, and before I forget it…this story has gotten over 70 reviews, over 150 favorites and over 5500 views in barely a month! Given that this was originally meant to be an April Fools' joke and that the plot/MC are so 'strange' for SAO's setting, that's a very gratifying surprise! You guys are awesome OwO!

Well, with that out of the way, enjoy of this chapter! It has a good balance of craziness, reveals and unexpected situations, together with small settings for the future…Enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: What makes you Human?**

 **April 6th, 2023. 15th Floor, Aincrad. Closest Town to the Labyrinth, 14:05…**

Sighing, SAO's most famous (And slightly infamous) info-broker, Argo the Rat, closed her menu and stared towards the Labyrinth Tower that led towards the 16th Floor. The Raid to defy the 15th Floor Boss was supposed to take place sometime this week, and she had already finished gathering most of the important information regarding the Floor's Quests and rumors about the Boss, ready to sell them to anyone willing to pay her fees…

However, the whiskered girl, surprisingly, wasn't thinking about the upcoming battle at all, nor the juicy gains she could get from her valuable info. Instead, what occupied her mind in that moment was her best friend and partner (And 'slave' in the opinion of some idiots from the Beta that liked to spread rumors and that quickly found themselves having very shitty luck with Parties or gathering info for Quests for mysterious reasons).

Being honest with herself, Kirito (Kazuto in real life) was…probably the most 'interesting' thing that had happened in her almost 15 years of life, to put it mildly. The strange and ever-smiling boy was the whole reason she was more outgoing and open nowadays compared to the past, socialized more even out of the virtual world and had a few friends her age…

Of course, there was also the fact that the boy was dense like a rock, that one of said friends were unusually 'overprotective' of him (Which was a bit surprising given it was his little sister…even if he was adopted), other was clearly shamelessly trying to get his attention with a pretended 'rivalry' that wouldn't fool anyone with half a brain for such things (Meaning Kazuto was totally oblivious to it), and the last one clearly 'admired' him because of something he had made her realize when saving him from drowning years ago (Yeah, Asuna was almost as bad at keeping secrets from her as Kazuto was).

And…he was also the first boy in whom she had ever been romantically interested, there was no real point in lying to herself about it. Oh, it certainly hadn't been that way at the beginning, at all. If anything, the odd boy had been first an opportunity to take advantage of within the game, then a loyal and lovable friend after she overcame her guilt and got determined to repay his honest friendship.

Then his 'marriage proposal' hade made her heart go all crazy and left her hiding in her room for almost a whole day, with her parents worried about what the hell had happened to her. Even after she had let her anger loose at him after he cleared the 'misunderstandings', what she had felt that day hadn't vanished, and that last day on SAO's Beta had only made that even stronger. The endless times they would talk through email after that had only increased that, and that was the main reason she looked forward to the game's official release so much, why she went out of her way that first day to try and look 'pretty' instead and look for the only place in the 1st Floor where they sold food that wasn't bland, why she had risked selling unconfirmed Beta info into the actual game to get the Col needed for it all…

She should have known that he would find a way to screw it all up without even meaning to. And the saddest part was that she couldn't even find it in herself to hate him for it even a little, because it was that strange naivety of his, together with his uncaring honesty and his uncanny ability to make everyone around him feel special, what attracted her so much about him. Meeting him in real life hadn't done anything for shattering that view, only reinforced it. He was still the same when they talked as Kazuto and Shiori that when they did so as Kirito and Argo.

So then, the question plaguing her mind was: What should she do now? Should she keep trying to gain the boy's affection when it was clear that there was a 'cold war' between their group of friends for the same goal (Among which there were 2 girls older than him)? Not to mention the fact that Kirito's denseness was probably the only thing keeping them all together in such a 'merry' way. After all, despite the silent rivalry between them (Except Asuna, who still seemed stubborn in pretending that she only saw the boy as a 'good friend'), Argo couldn't deny they had all become great friends. And a part of her was scared that becoming _more than friends_ with one of them would tear their group apart. While she liked to think of herself and the rest as mature enough for that not to happen, they _had_ kind of all but butted in that first day on his and Kirito's not-date, despite clearly having realized at some point what her motive to cite the boy there had been about.

On the other hand…there was the little part of her, the ruthless Information Broker that hungered for a monopoly over information and secrets to hold them over others' heads and dominate no matter how strong they were (…maybe she _should_ see a psychologist about that), that wasn't willing to give up before those other girls for the first boy she had liked that way.

Still so lost in her own internal debate about maybe risking destroying her first group of friends ever or not because of a guy, the whiskered girl wasn't expecting someone to suddenly grab her shoulder with a somewhat firm grip,

"Hey, are you Argo the Info-Broker?"

"KYA!"

"A-ah, Sinon-san! See?! I told you not to do that, you scared her!"

"I-I was just trying to get her attention because she seemed lost in thought! Do-don't make such a big deal out of it, Silica!"

Gasping for (Unneeded) virtual breath, Argo looked up from the ground, where she had fallen upon being startled off her seat atop a small wall, and towards the two girls standing on top of said wall now, one with confidence while the other with slight but determined awkwardness.

The taller one seemed the very epitome of self-assurance, her dark hair and eyes together with the pouting scowl she was giving her friend and her revealing but, clearly, high-tier clothes and light armor giving her a quite badass look. The shorter one, on the other hand, seemed to be a contrasting opposite, extremely cute-looking and young, probably no older than 13 (If that), her own bright clothes and light armor combined with her twin-tails giving her an air typical of a little girl you couldn't help but want to protect.

Argo knew who these two were. An odd pair that was quite powerful despite not being actual Front Liners, who kind of shared the same fame/infamy she did among most of the Players: Sinon and Silica.

One feared and respected by her direct and determined attitude, never bending to anyone's will but her own. The other loved and awe-inspiring because of her cuteness and that she was, somehow, the only one able to, despite her shy nature, befriend and sway the judgment of the intimidating spear-user.

They were also part of the group of 'Real Face' or 'Unmasked Players', though they probably didn't know Argo knew this, nor that she was also part of said group. The interesting term had been born during SAO's first week, when the returned Beta Testers decided to start experimenting with their 'Mirrors' and realized a potential way of gaining some quick Col at the very beginning of the game.

Basically, as the Mirror's effect to reveal your real appearance wasn't limited to how many it could be shared with (Only that the Item itself couldn't be given away), and that almost no one knew no one during the very beginning of Sword Art Online (Except friends and/or family that had Logged In together to play), as soon as the rumors about the Item started going around there were more than a few curious players that wanted to feel the excitement of looking like themselves in the virtual world without anyone around them being the wiser that they weren't created Avatars, something that Beta Testers had taken advantage of by charging expensive amounts for the 'change' to new players (Even if a few were kind enough to do it once or twice out of their own goodwill). Nowadays, at least a 20% of the (By now) hundreds of thousands SAO Players were this, but there were just too many and too dispersed through the massive Floating Castle for anyone to know for sure which were which (Though it was more often than not safe to bet that anyone looking impossibly handsome/pretty or dashingly muscular wasn't truly like that IRL).

The only reason the Info Broker knew these two were using their real looks in Aincrad was because the Beta Tester that had 'changed' them (An old acquaintance from the Beta, almost as childishly friendly as Kirito, called Merida) had told her so back when she was gathering info about the slightly famous pair.

Even so, that didn't explain why those two would be there looking for her. As far as Argo knew about them, Sinon and Silica never had required her services because they were more of the 'free' type of Players, those that preferred exploring on their own and discover things as they went, gathering info by themselves if they stumbled across it. Which was probably the only reason why they weren't active Front Liners, as their apparent skill and prowess were enough to put them at the top of the Mid Liners probably.

Because of that, the Info Broker could only question why would they now seek her out, especially given that she could detect (She was quite proud of her ability to read people) a faint amount of uneasiness in the supposedly unshakable spear-user, not to mention that the young dagger-user seemed about to have a nervous breakdown, if the way her hands kept playing with each other and how her gaze shot from Sinon to Argo several times was anything to go by…

"…so, Info Broker-san, we need your help with something…a bit strange." started the dark-haired girl with a voice laced with a bit of hesitation, but never stopping her words.

"Si-Sinon-san, I'm still not sure this is a good idea…"

"We already came all the way here; this is no time to be doubting our decisions anymore, Silica!" half-shouted/half-pleaded Sinon while looking at her friend, before turning to look back at the whiskered girl with a…complicated expression on her face. "Hear, sorry if this sounds weird, and I know asking these kinds of things is usually frowned upon in VR, but…do your info-gathering skills extend to matters of real life too?"

"…uh?" of all the things Argo had been expecting them to ask her about, something like THAT hadn't been even remotely on the list. "You…what exactly do you need info of in real life?"

"We're…trying to find someone we know, you could say…" started Silica with a dubious tone, slightly biting her lips as she played with the hem of her skirt. "It's just that, we haven't seen him in years and we don't have much information to find him and…!"

"And it would seem my own ability to gather information doesn't extend well to finding people in reality." sighed Sinon with a slightly bitter tone before looking back towards the blinking info broker. "Which is why, after a month of fruitless endeavors, we're now resorting to you, as small as the possibility of you being able to help us in this matter is."

"Ehm…well, while I'm flattered you would put my abilities in such high regard to ask me about this, I'm not entirely sure I can help you with this matter…" cautiously commented Argo with a small frown, wondering why she was having an ominously hopeless feeling about this. "…what's the name of this person you're looking for?"

"See, that's the thing, we have it partially and that's why we can't find him, despite our clues. All that we know for sure is that his name is Kazuto, that he has a sister called Suguha and that their family name is Kirisomething, but neither I nor Silica can remember exactly what…wh-what are you doing?!" shouted the shocked spear-user, Silica squeaking in surprise along, when they saw the whiskered girl suddenly start banging her head against a nearby wall after Sinon's words reached her.

Argo, meanwhile, could only grit her teeth with a twitching eyebrow as she tried and failed to inflict any actual pain to her head.

 _"God. Damn. It. Kii-bou."_ mentally growled the hooded girl _. "Why?! Why are they all girls?! Hell, for all I know the idiot is with another girl I don't know about right now and he's somehow going to make her as desperate to find him as these two here!"_

Of course, there was no way for the former Beta Tester to know that she was half-right in that moment…

* * *

 _"I just wanted to be normal…why won't you leave me alone?"_ – Anonymous (Someone realizing the unfairness of this shitty world).

* * *

Shinozaki Rika wasn't sure what to make of her current situation.

Today had started like any normal day: Waking up, enjoying the fact that it wasn't a school day, spending some time with her family then heading out to her weird (Who makes a ramen shop themed on SPACE, really? At least the old man running it was nice) if simple part-time job and try once again to show that her cuteness was a better client-attracting force than the stupidly realistic costume of the strange Waryum, her co-worker…

She certainly wasn't expecting to be sitting beside a boy she had just met with a serving of 'Space Ramen' (While said boy was eating THREE bowls), a small blush on her face as he kept giving her a smile from time to time before pretending not to cower slightly and concentrate on making small talk every time Waryum walked behind them towards a table.

"A-ah…this ramen is truly delicious, Rika-san! I-I'm glad you called me out to taste it!"

"Ye-yeah, heh, no problem, Kazuto…oh, a-and tha-thanks for treating me to a bowl, but it wasn't necessary…"

"Non-nonsense, think of it as my way of saying thanks!…hmm, this is _really_ go-good!"

Honestly, Rika wasn't sure what to make of the black-haired boy. Originally, she had thought he was the shy type, maybe your typical otaku given that he had obviously come to Akihabara to buy whatever he had in the bag he carried. He was cute, though, in an almost feminine way, and the sound of his hungry stomach had made him an easy target to get another customer in her mind.

Now, she wasn't as sure as before about what to think of him. First of all, he didn't really seem shy at all; in fact, he apparently had no problem with boldly buying her something to eat and then asking her rather directly to eat at his side while they talked. Despite this, however, he didn't seem to be doing it to try and get in her pants, which would have been her first thought in any other situation, if only because everything that came out of his mouth sounded so honest it was almost painful, and that almost everything at him spoke of childish innocence, which made her wonder if he wasn't younger than her despite being slightly taller.

Plus, it was obvious that, for some strange reason, the boy was terrified of Waryum's costume, and that this had been the main reason he had for wanting to stay close to Rika, as if just having exchanged a couple of nice words was enough for him to trust her enough to feel 'safe' at her side. Honestly, the girl wasn't sure if that made her feel flustered or annoyed, though the constant blushing his smile caused her probably could make anyone form their own opinions.

As weird as the situation was, though, she decided to just roll with it. She was getting free food, and her turn was already over to some harmless banter wouldn't hurt her at all. Being honest, though, she wasn't sure what Kazuto saw that was so scary about her odd co-worker. Sure, his costume was extremely realistic, but this was Akihabara, arguably Japan's central core for 'weirdness' from any foreign standpoint. One could see crazy cosplayers or even stranger things through these streets (Like that one guy the other day with the red robotic armor claiming to be a hero from another universe), and the biggest reaction beyond awed or weird looks Waryum had gotten before were a couple wanting to take a picture of their son with him.

The black-haired boy, however, seemed truly terrified of her co-worker since the moment he saw him, to Waryum's obvious confusion when Kazuto had hidden behind her and then all but dragged her inside while saying he was inviting her to a bowl of ramen as thanks.

Oh well, it wasn't really her problem, and she wasn't one to pry in the fears of strangers anyway. Everyone in the world had something they were afraid of, and while some fears could be considered 'silly' by others she wasn't one to laugh at such personal things.

She took another bite of her ramen while thinking about those things, idly answering another of the boy's simple questions, also wondering how it was possible that he seemed genuinely interested in her answers when he was obviously trying to do anything to not think of Waryum's presence.

He was certainly weird…but, to her surprise, Rika didn't exactly dislike that, at all.

"….aaah…well, that was delicious! Thanks for the food, Ojii-san!" loudly spoke Kazuto while standing up and giving a wave to the owner, who gave him a nod in return. "Oh, and thanks for recommending me the shop, Rika-san!"

"N-no problem, thanks to you for treating me to some ramen." waved it off the brown-haired girl with a smile. "So, see you some other time?"

"Ehm…I-I don't know…" muttered the black-haired boy while his eyes 'subtly' darted in Waryum's direction, the 'costumed man' currently taking the order of someone at the shop's far end. "I…live quite away from here, so…"

"Oh, ye-yeah, that's understandable." answered Rika while trying to hide the slight disappointment in her voice or her own inner surprise at how attached she had seemingly grown to the childish teen's antics in such a short time. "Goodbye, then."

"Go-goodbye…" whispered him with an almost apologetic tone before turning around and exiting the shop at a slightly hurried pace. With a small sigh, the girl turned back to her food and disposed to finish it, putting the curious encounter behind her…

"Oguro-san, I just remembered I had something important to do. Sorry, but I need to step out for a while."

…right until she heard those words and how Waryum hurried out of the shop, making her look back with shock in time so see his back vanishing through the entrance.

It was also at that moment that she took notice of a familiar bag still resting in the seat beside her…

Meanwhile, Kirigaya Kazuto was trying not to panic as he walked down Akihabara's busy streets, forcing down the urge to look behind his shoulder every 5 seconds or to jump towards a nearby building's rooftop and get away from there as fast as he could. It was already bad enough that he had blown the money he was supposed to use for the train back home in inviting Rika a bowl of ramen, but the fear overpowering him upon seeing _those eyes_ had been enough to make him want to at least have the girl's comforting presence beside him as he ate. Of course, that meant now he would have to break his promise to both his mother and Sugu and get back to Kawagoe through 'abnormal' means.

It wasn't that sneaking into trains or buses without anyone noticing was difficult for him, but it wasn't normal, and also illegal, so his family had made him swear he would stop after the incident when he first met Asuna, so it would be like…

The gamer's body tensed, his instincts telling him he was being _watched_. Gulping, he subtly created an eye on the back of his hand and pretended to scratch the back of his head.

Six red eyes were staring silently at him from the other side of the street, the tall creature they belonged to slowly making his way through the crowd towards him.

Kazuto threw all caution to the wind and bolted, ignoring the several shouts or grunts of pain from the people he bumped into as he ran down the first side-street he could find, away from the crowd's prying eyes in the main streets.

As soon as he saw an alley, he dove into it as if his life depended on it, then quickly checked it was empty before jumping towards the nearest wall, his hands mutating into claws that he quickly used to hang from it and start climbing towards the roof as fast as he could.

He needed to get away! That thing wasn't a human in a costume, not at all. It was the same being from his half-remembered nightmares, the creature staring at him from beyond the red water that made him suffer, and now it had come back to…!

 _Something_ hit him and he felt his whole body freeze.

No, to be more precise, nothing 'solid' actually hit him, more like some kind of invisible 'force' had suddenly made contact with his body and paralyzed every single one of his cells.

Not being able to scream, Kazuto felt his hands go limp as he fell backward and towards the alley's ground, impacting against the concrete with a dull sound, cracking it in the process.

Slowly moving to stand over his fallen form, Waryum looked down at the terrified boy, his six eyes narrowed and a strange organic-looking weapon held in his hands.

"Long time no see, X-K0940." coldly spoke the Tryum while reconfiguring the weapon and aiming towards the unmoving Kazuto. "I will be honest with you, I didn't expect you to have actually disguised yourself as a human, but I, of course, wasn't fooled for even a second."

Actually, the alien scientist hadn't noticed anything strange about the boy at all until he had rushed out of the ramen shop, moment in which he had given chase to return the change money he had seemingly forgotten about in his haste. Then, he had stumbled upon the 'human' climbing a vertical wall with strangely mutated claws made of familiar flesh and filled with familiar eyes and his mind had finally connected the dots as to why the black-haired boy seemed to be so deadly afraid of him.

But none of that mattered now because he had FINALLY done it! It had taken him years of search and a bit (Lot) of dumb luck, but he had finally managed to recapture the escaped experiment! Now, all he needed to do was…!

"Wa-Waryum-kun?!" freezing, the Tryum's eyes shot towards the alley's entrance, where a wide-eyed Shinozaki Rika stood, still in her waitress uniform and with a familiar bag in her hand. "Wha-what are you doing to him?!"

"Da-dammit, Shinozaki-san! Why did you even come here?!" screamed the alien while fully turning towards her.

"I-I…he had forgotten this bag back in the restaurant a-and it seemed important, s-so…" her panic increasing, Rika's eyes shot from the strange weapon in her co-worker's hands to the paralyzed boy on the ground, widening upon seeing the monstrous claws that had replaced his hands, filled with inhuman eyes that were at her with panic, as if urging her to run away. "Wha-what's going on…?!"

His mind going faster than a Bio-Nuclear Spaceship, the Tryum quickly assessed the situation: He had an Omega-Level Biological Experiment that needed to be restrained and/or destroyed right away behind him and a witness from an intelligent if underdeveloped species before him that had just saw undeniable proof of his nature.

The fact that he kind of liked mankind and had grown a bit attached to the teenager before him by working together in that comforting ramen shop under the kindness of Oguro-san also factored in his upcoming decision.

Half a second after processing all of that, he did the logical thing and shot the wide-eyed Shinozaki Rika in the chest, sending her unmoving body into the ground with a soft 'thud'.

If Kazuto had been able to scream, he would have, but it was at that moment that Waryum turned to look towards him, aimed at his face and pulled the trigger once again.

Then, he knew no more.

* * *

 _"Just because I look different doesn't mean that we're not the same inside."_ – Anonymous (Someone trying to teach a lesson).

* * *

 _The dream was strange, bizarre and complex. Almost as if his mind couldn't properly recall whatever it contained, because the proper memories had been mostly discarded…_

 _There was fire everywhere. Burning rocks. A toxic atmosphere, dark clouds everywhere._

 _Giant…things, with wings, spewing what seemed like raw energy from their maws and destroying everything…no, they were trying to run_ because _everything was being destroyed, but their very own nature was making them attack anything they saw even during the apparent apocalypse._

 _He, standing there and eating something from the ground, was an obvious target. One of the things dove down towards him, opening its massive jaws to bite down into him…_

 _And **something** that had been waiting around him all the time, somehow unseen, turned visible with unholy anger, reaching outwards and dragging the shocked flying predator down scant meters from his eating position._

 _He barely even acknowledged the familiar red-slitted eyes with yellow and vein-filled sclera before countless clawed and teeth-filled tendrils burst from his familiar 'guardian',_ tearing off _the beast's head before it could even cry out in pain, then proceeding to brutally dismember and mangle the rest of its body with raw hate, screaming and roaring all the while, like punishing the already dead creature for having_ dared _to try and harm him._

 _All the while, he just kept eating, uncarng of the brutal carnage, as if he didn't care, was used to it…or both._

 _When it was over, the terrifying but familiar turned to look at him with its many eyes, its gaze seemingly_ softening _with happiness at seeing him eating calmly, reaching out towards him with its tentacles. Stopping his eating for a moment, he grew tentacles on his own and touched theirs, making it release a_ delighted _sound._

 _Then, it threw the mangled remains of the flying beast at him and he happily accepted them, eagerly consuming and absorbing them with its monstrous body._

 _All the while, the slightly bigger creature continued looking at him with happiness, unminding of the horrifying destruction taking place around them, as if he was the only thing that mattered in the Universe…_

Kazuto's eyes snapped open all of a sudden, the details of the hazy dream he had been having blurring out of his mind as he slowly became aware of his surroundings.

He was…in a surprisingly neat room, probably a living room, with a quite big window leading to a balcony somewhere at his left, though the glass was missing from it and only curtains that one haphazardly closed with a bunch cheap plastic hairclips (He knew because he could see them all hanging from one side of open curtain) partially covered it. The setting sun of twilight could be seen through it, letting anyone within with enough knowledge to notice the building should be somewhere on the outskirts of Tokyo.

Also, he couldn't move his arms or legs, and one look at them made his eyes widen, seeing how some weird and rock-colored 'slime' seemed to be gluing them and most of his upper body to an old chair.

"So…you finally woke up, eh? Good, I have some things I want you to clear up for me…"

Head shooting towards the source of the voice, the black-haired boy saw the sinister form of Waryum looking at him with an indecipherable gaze, making his body tense.

"You…it's really you…the one from my nightmares…"

"…wait, what? I give you nightmares?" somehow, the 6-eyed alien seemed truly and genuinely perplexed by this, before quickly sprouting another apparently surprising though. "Wait, you have nightmares?! As in, you can experience actual dreams?!"

"Ye-yes…?" stuttered Kazuto, before his eyes widened in horror as a memory hit him. "Oh God…yo-you shot Rika-san too, didn't you?! Why?! Why would you do that to her?! She had nothing to do with this and now she is…! I will never forgive you, you mons…!"

"Ka-Kazuto…" freezing mid-speech, the black-haired boy blinked and looked behind him, seeing Rika's tied-up form, the girl's own chair put beside a table where a couple of empty ramen bowls lay together with a can of cold tea that had a straw coming out of it. "You're awake…"

"Ri-Rika-san?! You're fine!" the brown-haired girl actually flinched upon seeing relieved tears forming in the black-haired boy's eyes, though if it was because said tears were somehow red or for the raw _emotion_ in his voice was anyone's guess. "I-I'm so glad…I thought that…"

"And now you're actually crying?!" his attention being drawn back to Waryum at his words, Kazuto was unable to suppress a squeak of terror upon seeing him pointing the same strange weapon of before towards him…but its appearance had changed slightly and now it had some radar-looking thing instead of a cannon, not to mention that the alien was looking with a frown at a screen it didn't have before either. "These readings…none of these make any sense!"

"Wha-what are you sa…?"

"Silence, I'm the one making questions here!" snapped the Tryum with a clearly unnerved tone, his eyes darting from the screen to his body as if fearing he was about to explode or something. "I'm the one who kidnaped you, if you didn't notice!"

"…you know, for a kidnaper, you're doing a pretty shitty job." deadpanned Rika while looking from the room they were in to the food on the table. "Or is it an alien thing to be so nice with those you kidnap?"

"I…originally was going to use one of the nearby deserted warehouses for this, but after thinking it over I realized that would be too mean of me given that I involved you without wanting to, Shinozaki-san." sighed Waryum while looking towards the bound girl. "Also, you're taking all of this way better than I thought you would…"

"Oh, you mean, the fact that you have been a real alien all along, that I have been kidnaped or that the first nice and cute boy I have talked to in years that isn't interested just in my pretty face is also another alien in disguise? Nah, you can bet that when the shock passes I'm probably going to freak out like never before, but right now I'm apparently too traumatized to properly react, as the primary worry in my mind right now is how my parents are going to freak out when they realize how late it is and that I haven't called to tell them anything.." cheerfully commented the teenager with a twitching smile, and also two twitching eyebrows. "Also, you totally look like the bad guy here, so there is that to consider too…"

"What?! No, you got it all wrong; I'm NOT an evil alien like those from stupid American movies! I'm actually a friend of your species and it's my duty to save you all from the _terrible threat_ that this thing represents!" screamed the 6-legged alien while pointing towards Kazuto.

The captive boy was still crying in relief at Rika being okay. The brown-haired girl looked at him for another second before deadpanning at the now silent Waryum, who was also STARING at the scene.

"Really?"

"Shu-shut up, Shinozaki-san, you don't know what you're getting into!" snapped the Tryum before glaring back towards the once again scared boy. "And you, X-K0940! It's clear you have some form of higher intelligence now, so tell me, why is your human disguise so unnecessarily thorough? And how the hell did you oppose the Programmed Protocol 666? You should have been killing everything that got too close to you since the moment you escaped from the lab!"

"E-eh?!" recoiling away from him as much as his 'bindings' allowed him, the gamer seemed as confused as he was scared before the alien's questions. "Wha-what are you talking about?! What lab? What is a Programmed Protocol? I-I don't know what any of that means!"

"…holy Fate, you're…you're serious, aren't you?" muttered the disbelief-filled Waryum while looking from the boy to the screen of his strange device. "…lungs, heart, stomach…what the fucking hell? Why…you have all organs a normal human of your apparent size, gender and age would have…but you don't actually _need_ any of them! I know, I read the reports on you…well, most of them anyway, and I made countless tests on you too!"

"Wa-wait, are you saying that, he's, like, your secret mad experiment or something?!" snapped Rika with clear worry, her eyes shooting from the shaking boy to the clearly confused and slightly on edge alien.

"Yes…well, not exactly: X-K0940 was certainly a very rare Bio-Experiment, but I wasn't the one that created him, I was only the one assigned to study it, along with other minor ones, after it was deemed…unimportant." clarified Waryum while looking from the brown-haired girl to the suddenly curious-looking boy. "Then, years ago, there was an…accident that destroyed my lab and he accidentally escaped…"

"…was that accident…my fault?" asked Kazuto with a small voice, almost as if afraid of the answer.

"What? No, it…it had nothing to with you, only…ehm…" suddenly, the alien seemed to find the cracks on his ceiling very interesting, for some odd reason, making the only actual human in the room raise an eyebrow.

"…Waryum-kun? Something you want to tell us?" urged Rika with what she hoped was a convincing enough voice.

"I…may have accidently made a mistake while cleaning the containment area of a minor specimen, a creature with a highly flammable body, and…it may have escaped and shot into the ventilation ducts, which led it to the facility's main generator…and then the next second everything was burning and exploding." admitted the Tryum with a low voice, causing the girl to gap at him in disbelief and the boy to blink in utter confusion. "He-hey, don't look at me like that! We all make mistakes! And besides, I spent fucking years regenerating and buried under the earth because of it…"

"…this explosion…by any chance, did it happen some 13 years ago or so?"

"Eh?" blinking at Kazuto's unexpected question, even as Rika shot him a curious look, Waryum crossed his arms in deep thought. "I…think so, yeah. I mean, I have only been fully using human calendars since I managed to escape back to the surface, but…why do you ask?"

"Because…that's when mom told me she and dad found me." revealed the black-haired boy with a whisper, making the alien 6-eyed freeze in place and the human girl to gasp in shock. "They were coming back from visiting mom's parents when they heard a loud sound, dad went to investigate and…found me. Mom said I came out of some sort of…pod…"

"Wait…wait a second. Mom? Dad? Are you telling me some humans were actually dumb enough to take you home with…? Oh Fate…the explosion…it must have reached the pod, damaged it, then also the Programmed Protocol would have…and you say you can't remember…" suddenly, the Tryum was in Kazuto's face, making him scream as he tightly gripped his shoulders with those strange and just vaguely humanoid hands of his. "How old are you?"

"I-I became 15 earlier this year, wh…?"

"NO. No, that's not right. You're biologically over 350 human years old." Waryum ignored the dumbfounded look Rika sent their way at the revelation while the black-haired boy just looked at him in mind-breaking shock, the alien ignoring that too in favor of pacing around the room. "The pod was programmed with a DNA scanner because you were classified as a Mimetic Type Organism…in this case it would have allowed you to camouflage as an animal or something like that until you could start your mission…it _wasn't_ mean to analyze human DNA, hell, any intelligent race's DNA no matter how primitive they are, and certainly not loaded to a being as dangerous as you…but wait, if that happened, then combined with the Programmed Protocol failing and somehow affecting your natural awareness…" stopping dead in his tracks, the alien stared back at the stunned gamer with wide eyes. "…you actually thought you were human?"

Kazuto's eyes lowering in shame as sadness filled him were all his answer, making the scientist's mind spin. Also making the last occupant in the room to glare at him.

"Okay, I think that's more than enough, don't you think, Waryum?" coldly asked Rika while glaring at the alien, who looked at her in disbelief. "Stop bullying the poor boy!"

She couldn't help it. After all, there was just _something_ about the boy's stance upon hearing those words that made her see him as a kicked puppy, and all her instincts were screaming at him to comfort the poor creature, alien experiment or not.

"….well, this is great." groaned Waryum while massaging his strange head, looking down and mumbling something before once again looking towards the silent Kazuto. "Hey, X-K0940…what's your name? Your actual human name, I mean, the one Shinozaki was calling you by earlier…"

"…Kazuto. Kirigaya Kazuto."

"And these…parents of yours were the ones who named you that way? They really took care of you as if you were a member of their family despite knowing you weren't…human?"

"Ye-yes…they did." muttered the boy with a small smile. "Mom never treated me differently even if knew I wasn't their child, dad always cared for me, grandfather was…great, before he passed away, and Sugu is always there for me…"

"Sugu? Who is…?"

"My little sister. Kirigaya Suguha." interrupted him the boy with a bright smile. The alien STARED at him upon those words.

"Little sist…oh fuck, STOP!" groaned the Tryum while violently walking away from the teenager, suddenly seemed frantic. "This was supposed to be simple once I found you, just stun and then contain an Omega-Level specimen then call for help to dispose of it and get back home! You weren't supposed to…become kind of human and make me feel bad about having to destroy you!"

"Wa-wait, destroy him?! Are you serious?!" this time not bothering to lower her voice (Most likely a sign that her grip over her calmness in the situation was slipping), Rika all but screamed as he looked toward the alien, who looked at her in sudden depth thought. "Can't you see he wouldn't hurt a fly?! You better not try and do anything to him, War…wait, what are you doing?"

The girl's sudden words could be attributed to the fact that Waryum had suddenly turned Kazuto's chair around so that it was facing her, much to the boy's confusion, and then started walking towards her while tinkering something in his strange device.

"Checking just how human he is…or at least how much he _thinks_ he is to trick his own biology in perfectly adopting such form to the last detail." clarified the alien before stopping at the girl's side and gripping her waist…no, the edge of her 'space waitress' uniform, to be precise. "Also, apologies in advance, Shinozaki-san, but given that I didn't kill you as soon as you saw me capturing him as the protocol dictates, you can at least bear with this."

"Wait, what are you talk…?"

And that's as far as Rika went before the Tryum _pulled_ , ripping apart most of the cheap fabric of her uniform and leaving most of her underwear-clad body exposed.

Ignoring the Blue Screen of Death the girl's mind seemed to be suffering, Waryum quickly turned and pointed his strange device towards Kazuto, who was STARING wide eyed at the scene, his cheeks quickly flushing as he gulped and shook his head.

"Wh-why did you do that?! Are you crazy?!" shouted the black-haired boy…though not making any attempt to separate his wide eyes from the girl's half-naked form. "Yo-you can't just do that to a girl, i-it's not proper!"

"Huh…will you look at that…all reactions seem actually human, the blood is going to the expected places for a human teen in such a situation…woah, you even have actual hormones…and even human blood? What the hell…? Fate, if I didn't know it myself and could read here how your DNA is anything but human I wouldn't be able to tell the difference…" too lost in his 'Scientist Mode', which he hadn't been able to use for years, the alien was unprepared for when Rika's mind finished rebooting and, finally, reacted in the expected way to her current situation.

That is, screaming so high they probably heard her at the other side of the block while her gaze turned a bright scarlet.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Gah!"

"Wha-wha…?! Rika-san, what's wro…?!"

"Pe-pervert, bastard, horrible hentai alien! A-and you, Ka-Kazuto, stop looking, NOW!"

"A-ah, I-I'm sorry, I-I know I should look at a girl's body li-like this, bu-but I don't know why a part of me doesn't want to look away…a-and I can't even turn around bound like this…"

"The-then close your eyes, dummy! It's common sense yo-you don't just stare at a girl's underwear!"

"So-sorry, I'm closing them now!"

"To-too late, yo-you already saw everything! I-I hope you're ready to take responsibility…"

"A-ah, wait, I have heard those words before in anime, yo-you mean…?"

The awkward and senseless talk was abruptly interrupted when two loud shots of kinetic energy rang through the air, leaving both teenagers unconscious again.

Lowering his alien device, once again in 'weapon' configuration, the Tryum looked from the unconscious human to the unmoving experiment before letting out another loud groan, lowering his device in the process.

"Fucking great. Now, what am I supposed to…?"

A sudden and angry cawing sound interrupted the alien's monologue, making his eyes widen as he turned around to look towards the window.

Waryum's gaze arrived in time to see some sort of 3-eyed winged abomination with a shadow riding it careening into his 'hideout', the latter wielding some kind of bladed weapon that was being swung towards him…

Yet another scream filled the air.

* * *

 _"Monsters are guided only by instinct_ … _but people can let feelings influence them."_ – Anonymous (Probably someone with peculiar friends).

* * *

Almost an hour earlier, Kirigaya Suguha was about to have an attack of hysteria.

It was already 6 in the evening and Kazuto still hadn't returned home.

Now, normally this wouldn't have supposed any reason of worry for the girl. After all, her adopted brother had been out until said hour or even a bit later in the past, and that when he was younger and more naive (Though being honest, the young kendoka knew a part of him was still as naïve as always). Even so, this time she had more than enough reasons to be worried.

First of all, Kazuto had left a note for her that morning, saying that he had to go buy something important to Akihabara, of all places, and that he would be back at 2 in the evening at most. Second, he had rushed out of the house with barely one and a half bowls of miso soup for breakfast, plus barely two pieces of bread!

Given how late it was now and that he still wasn't bad, that would be already a very great reason to assume _something_ had happened to him, but then a frantic Suguha had called both Yuuna and Asuna to ask if her brother had, as improbable as it was, gone to visit any of them.

On hindsight, the girl realized that the only thing he had accomplished with that had been to worry her two kinda-friends, as now they also knew Kazuto was missing and were most likely panicking.

It was probably almost as terrifying as the realization they had all had his last birthday that he was about to start **High School** later that year, all alone. Suguha still had one last year of Middle School to finish before being able to join him on the same institute, and both Yuuna and Asuna had their educations already underway on other centers that weren't exactly close to Kawagoe at all (A private All-Girls School in Asuna's case). None of them could exactly change schools just to keep an eye on him, for several reasons…

It wasn't as if they were scared of something bad happening to him or someone trying to bully, not at all. Suguha especially knew that unless a secret superhuman went to school with him, there would be no one able to physically threaten her brother, and his 'peculiar' mindset guaranteed that things like insults or emotional torment would go right over his head or been ignored with polite corrections (As much as she would wish to just split open the skull of whoever said such with her shinai).

No, what the girls were really scared about was the boy's uncanny ability to, among all the people he 'repelled' with his 'weirdness', always somehow find one or two persons that would end up sticking to him like glue. And, if one didn't count Kayaba Akihiko, said persons were usually female. Not to mention that now he would spend most of his time surrounded by other, _normal_ , teenagers without anyone that knew him beforehand around to keep an eye on him…

Shiori's comment about they were all being 'paranoid' would have been more believable if she hadn't noticed a noticeable twitch in her eyebrow and in her tone of voice when the subject was brought up.

Sighing, the young kendoka realized it was moments like this that made her wish she and Kazuto were the same age. Yeah, legally her adopted brother was a bit over a year older than her, but that was just because of the date their parents had to put on his Birth Certificate when one was made for him after none of his 'actual family' could be found by the authorities. For all they knew about his biology he may have been born that very same day found him or just months before that.

Idly, Suguha stopped walking frantically through the house (Waiting every second for the door to open and Kazuto to enter apologizing about being late), to look at herself with a critical eye. Now that the subject of her own age had come to her mind, the youngest Kirigaya was reminded that her birthday was coming soon and that there was a good chance THAT had been the reason her adopted brother had gone out to buy something. Putting aside the warm feeling that thought brought to her heart, the young kendoka took a moment to remember that 'discussion' he had with Yuuna almost a year ago about how she would grow up, and she had to say that she was…surprised.

For a couple of days after that, she had seriously considered trying to take care of her body in a more 'girly' way, maybe tone down a bit in her kendo training and start eating with more moderation…until she remembered the words Kazuto always gave her when she saw her practicing, about how her determination was something he admired. With narrowed eyes, she had decided that she wouldn't care for the words of her adoptive brother's friend/singing rival and that she would continue down the path she had chosen with pride.

…and contrary to her belief, she had been growing up…quite 'well'. As in, in this short time, she had gotten quite a bit taller, her hips had become fuller, her muscles had only made her legs, waist, and arms more toned, and her…chest had grown surprisingly, almost astonishingly, fast. Like, seriously, she wasn't one to boast or anything, but she had felt the STARES of her fellow kendokas when she changed in her school's club, as she had somehow become slightly bigger than Asuna in the last months. It was truly quite a surprise for her, and she could tell that probably for Yuuna too, if the look she had given her the last time they saw each other (And that she thought Suguha hadn't noticed) was anything to go by.

Then again, she probably wouldn't be 'growing' much more than that…right?

The young kendoka was quickly brought out of her somewhat silly musings about her growth spurt when an unexpected, if familiar, sound exploded behind her.

"CAW!"

"Gah! Ka-Kage-chan?!" turning around in shock, the girl was surprised to see her family's pet crow standing on the kitchen's table and flapping her wings with urgency, cawing repeatedly as she pointed outwards with one of her feet. "Wha-what's wrong?!"

For all answer, the crow cawed once again and flew in circles around the confused Suguha, before landing beside a family picture they had taken during Kazuto's last birthday and pointing hurriedly at him with her beak, cawing again in urgency as she did so.

"Caw, caaaw!"

"Onii-chan…Onii-chan is in trouble?!" upon receiving a nod from the black bird, the young kendoka didn't even stop to question the madness of the situation (Growing up as the sister of…whatever Kazuto was had made her more or less immune to weirdness of this kind) before asking the next question. "Can you take me to him?!"

"Caw!" was the answer Kage-chan gave before flying towards the backyard. Determination filling her, Suguha took a quick decision and rushed towards the dojo, stopping near where the shinai were stored before hesitating for a second and then grabbing the one actual bokken they owned, the heavier wooden sword (That shouldn't be used on anyone without protective gear if you didn't intent to hurt them) being secured with a firm grip of her hand.

As soon as she rushed into the garden, though, she saw how the agitated crow looked at her from beside the pond…before _changing_ before her very eyes, her body bulging and expanding in an abnormal and disturbing way.

Her feathers grew and sharpened, adopting a more 'crystal-like' appearance, even as the flesh bulged into strange muscles and the claws morphed, sharpening terribly while the beak elongated and grew small 'teeth' all over its surface. Finally, a THIRD EYE opened on the bird's forehead.

The monstrous bird, which was now the size of a big dog, turned towards the wide-eyed Suguha, before releasing a sinister growl and pointing toward her back with one of her wings.

Most normal girls would have screamed and fainted, run away or, at least, hesitated.

Kirigaya Suguha was keenly aware that this realization probably wasn't a good thing to say about her mental health when she barely took 2 seconds to rush towards 'Kage-chan' and hop on her back. She had just started to think that the creature didn't really seem big enough to carry her when the mutated bird released a powerful caw and SHOT towards the heavens, the young kendoka barely suppressing a scream as she held on her family's 'pet' for dear life.

Luckily, mankind had the strange tendency to almost never, even if they knew someone was watching them, looking up. As such, no one really saw the fast-moving black blur that shot into the sky with a teenage girl holding onto it with all her might, barely keeping her grip on her bokken.

Soon, though, Suguha realized she no longer felt as if gravity was trying to crush her and opened her tightly shut eyes, a gasp escaping her at seeing how Kage-chan was now flying more or less in a straight line like an arrow cutting through the wind, so high over the city that everything seemed small for her.

The cold and the harsh wind, not to mention the slightly noticeable difficult to breathe, weren't what came to the front of her mind, though, but another thing that truly surprised her mind.

 _"This…feels incredible."_

Quickly shaking the thoughts about how amazing flying felt at hearing her mutant mount release what she vaguely felt was a worried sound, the girl simply nodded softly and squeezed harder its strange flesh with her free arm, tightening her grip on the bokken with the other.

Suguha wasn't sure how long they were flying, probably for over half an hour, but given how far they were going and the fact that Kage-chan was carrying her, the creature's speed was more than impressive. She almost had to do a double-take when she saw Tokyo Tower and realized they had gone all the way to the capital.

The young kendoka had almost lost herself to the strange feeling of speed and cold wind when she realized the temperature was rising sharply, and that her mutant crow-mount was starting to descend as they neared towards the outskirts of the city, the sun having almost set.

She idly entertained the fear that someone may have spotted them before discarding the thought upon hearing Kage-chan cawing with a particularly high pitch, making her look forward and see how they were heading towards what seemed like an abandoned building (In fact, it even had a 'Stated for Demolition' sign on the front), specifically towards a balcony without glass windows, just half-covered by a curtain.

And within, she could vaguely see…

"Onii-chan! And…what is that thing before him?! It has a…weapon?!" fear gripping her heart, Suguha grit her teeth and raised her arm, trying to fight against the wind as she prepared a swing while her 'mount' kept diving forward. "Kage-chan, don't stop! We're going to save him!"

"CAW!" agreed the mutant crow as they shot forward into the room, making the shocked Waryum scream as he saw them careening towards them in slow motion…

Now, sadly for Suguha and Kage-chan, there was…more than one problem with their rescue strategy.

First of all, no matter how surprisingly physically fit the young kendoka was for her age, she was still a 14 years old human girl. One that had been exposed for the first time to quite cold temperatures and raging winds for a long while and, as such, was surprisingly weaker and than usual, not to mention totally off-balance.

Then, there was the fact that the mutant crow, for all its surprisingly enhanced intelligence and the strange bond it had with its savior, was still a bird, and as such not all that bright. Reason why it hadn't considered that the speed they were going at together with the closed space they were heading into was extremely bad for them unless they planned on suicide-crashing against the startled alien.

Finally…none of them had stopped to fully take into account that Waryum the Tryum was not only wielding an unknown 'weapon'…but also still had his hand on the trigger.

Because of all of this, if there was anyone watching the scene, they shouldn't have been really surprised when the screaming alien simply pulled the trigger and, despite his less than stellar accuracy, hit Kage-chan right on the head with the Paralyzing Mode of his device, given that the enormous crow and her rider were less than 3 meters away from him, making the bird squeak as her whole body suddenly froze in place.

Her battle cry turning into a startled scream, Suguha went flying off the suddenly unmoving crow, her 'attack' barely managing to hit the Tryum in 2 of its left eyes before she had to let go of her bokken and cover her face with her arms, crashing painfully on the ground as the wind was knocked out of her.

The girl couldn't even scream as she felt a sharp pain upon her right leg and her whole body ached in numb agony, making her roll on the ground while tears filled her eyes.

"Wha-what the fuck?! Eh?! What just happened?!" demanded an utterly confused Waryum as he covered his pained eyes with one hand, lowering his strange device while his gaze shot from the unmoving Kage-chan to the shaking Suguha on the ground. "Who…?! Wait, that thing…is filled with X-K…I mean, with the boy's DNA?! How in the world…and who is this human that was riding it?!" freezing at hearing the young kendoka sobbing on the ground as she tried to regain her breath, the Tryum gulped as he neared her fallen form. "He-hey, you, girl, are you okay…? "

As he said those words, the alien hesitantly touched Suguha's side. The human girl reacted by screaming in agony, finally recovering her breath enough to make her pain known.

Red slitted eyes immediately slammed open, their sclera of a deep golden filled with black veins.

"Aaaah…! Gah…agh…!"

"A-ah, shit!" recoiled the 6-eyed alien from the injured Suguha, clearly panicking. "He-hey, it's not my fault, okay?! Yo-you and your weird pet attacked me and…!"

A myriad tendrils of black and spikes-filled flesh rushed forward, interposing between the fallen girl and the wide-eyed Waryum. Countless monstrous eyes stared back at him with undiluted anger.

That wasn't what surprised him the most, though, as a part of him found the visage disturbingly familiar. No, what truly made the scientist's soul shake in terror were the strange red 'pulsations' emerging all around the tentacles…which suddenly split open.

Mouths. Countless of mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth were suddenly interlocked between the eyes, growling at him with animal fury.

 **"Don't…touch…my little sister…!"**

 _"What the hell is this?! X-K0940 doesn't have the ability to grow maws like this all over his body, I know, I studied it for years and read the reports, he only feeds through his main mouth and by absorbing things through his skin!"_ those were thoughts ran through the Tryum's mind as he took a shaky step back, his gaze shooting to the side to see Kazuto's head twisted in a weird angle and staring right towards him, his left arm having broken free of the Petrifying Gel and now having twisted into the monstrous mass of limbs blocking him…the same red pulsations from before covering his body like shining veins. _"Wa-wait…don't tell me…hearing that girl's pained voice made him go through a forced Evolutionary Pha…?!"_

Waryum's thoughts were brutally interrupted when the boy's still trapped arm bloated and exploded from within its prison, destroying the chair he had been bound at in the process.

In morbid fascination, the alien stared at how the limb had mutated into what seemed like the bastard child of a fang and a giant blade made of bone and muscle, a single eye on the sword's 'guard' staring hungrily at the world.

The Tryum suppressed the need to scream as he raised his device, but one of the tendrils still watching him shot forward and slapped it out of his hands with inhuman force.

Slowly, Suguha stared up, wide eyed as she saw her adopted brother growling while 'standing up', uncaring of his still 'trapped' legs becuase several clawed limbs had sprouted from his hips to support him upright.

 **"Get away…from her…!"**

"Wa-wait, you got it all wrong, I wasn't…!"

Waryum's plea fell on deaf ears as Kazuto ROARED so hard his face split in half…literally, as a mouth too big for his head to hold split it as the rest of his flesh changed and bloated, all the 'human' cells in his body suddenly 'twisting' inside out and revealing their true nature with but a thought, the alien scientist finally realizing that the only thing that had truly kept the boy 'bound' hadn't been the Petrifying Gel, but his own fear of him and the boy's own reticence to unleash his real self.

And perceiving how his little sister got hurt had smashed those barriers, releasing the beast within.

Such were the last thoughts of the Tryum before the creature expanded and rushed towards him.

At the same moment, Shinozaki Rika groggily opened her eyes, the sounds of roars and screams, not to mention the ground shaking, having woken her up…and came face to face with a mass of expanding black flesh from which spikes and tentacles with eyes and mouths grew, rushing at her like a living tidal wave.

The girl's mind snapped fully awake in an instant, her face twisting into a look of abject horror.

"Okay, okay, now I'm totally and thoroughly freaking the fuck out, KYAAA-!"

The sound of the ground breaking apart and of a wall being smashed by something engulfed everything.

And then, silence…

* * *

 _"Open your eyes, oh, Slayer of Life…"_ – Anonymous (Totally not a reference to the next lines).

* * *

From a moment to the next, the creature opened its… _her_ eyes.

Until that point, the being didn't really have a reason think of itself with a 'gender' as her jailers did, but given how they had taken to call her a 'she', she had decided to stop thinking about it herself, as she knew it would be important for the next mission…and for _her own_ mission.

Once her awareness returned, she realized with haunting displeasure that she was no longer in the dark pit covered by the semi-invisible energy barriers that she had called 'home' for years, but in a disgustingly familiar 'tank' filled with a red liquid, just big enough to contain her massive form, even as countless red-slitted eyes sharpened into focus and looked in all directions.

The 'cage' had obviously been adapted to her new size and capabilities since the last time she was there, in the 'ship' of her original jailers…and yes, just as she thought, there they were, looking a bit taller and noticeably older (To her beastly senses), but the 2 jailers staring at her from the other side of the strange barrier that kept her new tank suspended in midair were, without a doubt, the same ones from back then.

The bastards that had separated her from _her most precious_. From the only thing in the cosmos she cared for at all.

Rage filled every cell in her body as the memory of her sleeping sibling shot through her neural membranes. By instinct, all her limbs flailed about, slamming against the confines of her prison.

Unholy pain filled every fiber of her being as some unknown energy electrified her down to cellular level, forcing her to calm down and retract her limbs from the transparent 'walls', hate filling her as her many vocal orifices growled and her gaze settled over her original jailers.

"Well, hello again, X-K0941." softly commented Grotek with an almost curious tone. "It has been a long time."

"…you know it can't really understand us, right?" questioned Ubom while tilting his head. "As in, as much as those guys from the prison liked blabbering about, there is no way…"

An angry roar cut off his words, making the Tryum blink and look towards the tank, where the abomination of nature was looking at them with what almost seemed like rage.

"…are you sure about that, Ubom?"

"Shut up, Grotek. Did you manage to get the higher-ups approval for us to use a Warp Portal?"

"About that…our request was totally denied."

"What?! Did you properly explain to them the implications of what we're trying to do AND prevent?!"

"Of course I did! It's just that, you know how these things work: X-K0941 is an excellent Guardian Dog, yeah, but her absurd levels of violence and difficulty to keep on a leash out of specific situations make those in charge reticent about the possibility about more like her without tangible proof they can be kept under control. And they really don't care about what X-K0940 may do to Earth's inhabitants as long as our fault on that isn't revealed to a Primitive Species, so…"

"Yes, yes, I get it. For Fate's sake…ugh, we will have to do it the long way, then. Prepare the crew to enter Fragmented Space, we're heading towards the 'Solar System' right away."

"Ugh, man, that's on the other fucking side of the galaxy…we will take ages to get there!"

"Using the terms to measure time of Earth's inhabitants, it will be almost a year and a half…we could take advantage of all this free time to run some preliminary tests to fully check on 41's changes and finish up the other experiments we had half-finished before this situation arose…"

"…or, we could get all into Cryo-Sleep for 99% of the trip and be done with it!"

"…yeah, that's another possibility. I will go and tell the crew!"

"Excellent…oh, and 41? I don't really know if you can understand me, but know what? I was wrong! You ARE going to see your 'brother' again, after all!"

And as the 2 Tryum High Researchers exited the special containment area of their ship's lab…they didn't notice the strange way in which the eyes of their 'experiment' had started to move, nor how her flesh rippled strangely.

 _'Brother'_ …she recognized the word, from her time as a 'guard dog' of the prison for the criminals of her jailer's race. A male definition for a sibling.

Brother. Her brother.

Yes…yes…YES…!

Her jailers were taking her to her other half. Soon, all would be well. They would be reunited again, she would kill everything and everyone that tried to separate them and she would NEVER again let him be taken away from her.

Within the darkened chamber, a loud rumble muffled by special containment liquid echoed. If any Tryum had been there and hadn't been paralyzed by terror at hearing it, they may have recognized an ever-repeating word…and then more of them.

 ** _"Broootheeerrrr….I'mmm…goiiinggg…"_**

* * *

Kirigaya Midori had arrived home less than 10 minutes ago, and was now about to have a panic attack.

It was almost 11 in the night and none of her children were home. There was no trace of either her son or her daughter in the whole house (And strangely enough neither of their crow pet, given that her nest was empty save for her 2 sleeping little ones), neither of any note or anything to indicate where they were.

Cursing for the twentieth time not having yet gotten a cellphone to either of them (Mainly because she wasn't sure if Kazuto could handle having one and that she was planning to get Suguha one for her upcoming birthday) and promising herself she would give them a good tongue lashing to not think anything bad had happened to them, the woman was about to call the police before someone rang the house's bell.

Barely suppressing a sigh of relief, Midori headed towards the door, opening it with a serious reprimand on the tip of her tongue…which died away as she STARED at the figures waiting there.

At one side, a teary-eyed Kazuto stood, half-carrying/half-helping stand… _something_ with 6 red eyes and 6 legs, even if many of those seemed to be bent the wrong way. At his side, a wincing Suguha stood, clearly favoring one foot while she alternated between putting a hand on her brother's shoulder and whispering calming words to a catatonic and half-naked girl her mother had never seen before, who was trembling and mostly covered by the rags of some kinda uniform and her daughter's favorite red jacket. Also, Kage-chan was standing upon her shoulder, softly pecking her hair as if to help calm her down.

"Mo-mom, snif, I…I didn't want to, but…I-I thought he had attacked Sugu and…and I lost control and…!"

"I…can't feel my legs…or my fourth lung…"

"Shut up, you alien weirdo! And Onii-chan, shhh, it's okay, I already told you it wasn't your fault, HE is the one who kidnaped you two and…a-ah, that's right, mom, can you help Shinozaki-san here?! Poor girl has to call her parents before they report she was kidnaped or something!"

"So many eyes…so many tentacles…why did it have to be tentacles…? He seemed such a cute and harmless guy…"

"U-ugu, so-sorry again, Rika-san…I didn't mean to make you fall down when I collapsed the floor…I was sure yo-you hadn't gotten hurt…"

"Onii-chan, I don't think you get that her trauma is more mental than physical…"

"For the love of Fate…have mercy and let me die already…"

"Caw."

Kirigaya Midori blinked at the scene.

Then, even as her body entered auto-pilot to usher her children inside, get Sugu to give some clothes to the catatonic Rika and had Kazuto to let the…alien in the backyard, she arrived at a single conclusion.

Being a mother was a thousand times harder than she had thought.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Poor Waryum, he doesn't have any luck, eh XP?

Well, that happened! Things spiraled out of control for our resident alien with bad luck and he got to taste a bit of the 'Onii-chan Fury' of our little freak of nature (Thank Fate that Kazuto snapped out of it fast or he wouldn't have gotten away with just a lot of 'minor' injuries). Which has now left _him_ as the 'prisoner' of the Kirigaya…kinda, not really, though…expect that to get sorted out next chapter.

Also, things all around are starting to come together. The 'Alien Hunters' have made contact with Argo to try and find Kirito, she's trying to not bash her head out at Kazuto's apparent inability to make any male friend in this Universe and Grotek and Ubom are bringing his 'sister' to Earth to use her for capturing him. There is no way any of that can possibly end badly :D

Funny thing, a small detail I wanted to point out with that last scene of those two, is that, despite being highly advanced, especially compared with humans, the Tryums aren't as brutally futuristic as, for example, the aliens shown in my Requiem Universus story (Though being fair, the Universal Alliance is, well, that, an entire universe together with both magic and science having been combined in several ways for their resources). While they DO have means to travel instantly between a point of space to another, it's greatly limited with their bio-technology so they use it only for emergencies…and the main plot of this fic didn't qualify enough for the higher-ups of those two to let them use it. In other words, it's this author's shameless' excuse to have one more relatively important time skip in this XP

Which lead us to another important point…with the next chapter, we will probably be like halfway into this story! Yeah, I could probably find ways of making it longer if I dragged/detailed certain plots and characters more, but I don't really want that and I never intended for this fic to be especially long…to make up for that, though, would anyone like some silly omakes :P? I had an interesting idea for a non-canon semi-crossover with this fic to start adding from next chapter onwards. All I will say is that is more or less related to the half-serious 'fear' of the girls about Lusus!Kirito going alone to High School…but what if he went to one where he fit like a glove XD?

Oh, and a minute of silence for Suguha, Kage-chan and Rika. The two former for being faced by the horrible reality that, even in stories with aliens and monsters, one can't always do epic heroic entrances to rescue someone without Reality Ensuing, and the latter for becoming the first one outside the Kirigaya Family (Kayaba doesn't count because he's... _Kayaba_ ) in discovering Kazuto's secret...and in such a traumatic way too. Don't worry everyone, hopefully her mind will recover from that...soon.

That aside, though, I have nothing more to say for now. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and had a fun time reading it :3

Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	6. Chapter 5: Hidden Nature

Uff…well, here we go again! Another chapter of the most bizarre Kirito around is here :3!

Now, this is a chapter of surprises, revelations and some explanations, that will probably leave people wondering things and hungering for the full revelations, but everything will have to wait a bit. Nevertheless, hope you enjoy it :D!

 **PS:** We got a new cover image for the fic, as you may notice! All credit goes to good friend and reader Surumethekraken, its maker, for this cute attempt to a chibi-like version of Lusus!Kirito base 'true form' :3 You can also find a link to the whole image in my profile, under the part referring this story XP

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Hidden Nature**

 **April 7th, 2023. Kawagoe, Saitama. Kirigaya Household, 00:30…**

Groaning in pain, Waryum the Tryum slowly opened his eyes, feeling like total shit. His body hurt all over, he couldn't feel 5 of his legs and he seemed be lying in…some sort of home garden?

"Oh…you're awake. Are you okay?"

Eyes snapping open, the alien's gaze shot to the side, allowing him to see that, effectively, he was lying in the backyard of a respectable-sized home, just beside a small pond.

And standing not far from him, staring silently at the water, was none other than the Experiment X-K0940…or Kirigaya Kazuto, as he had identified himself when he had interrogated him earlier. Softly, the black-haired boy turned to look at him with grief-filled eyes.

Suddenly, everything that had happened earlier when he 'caught' the non-human and kidnaped him and Rika came back to him, and Waryum was unable to not flinch in fear, especially at realizing that the pain was because most of his legs were bend in the wrong angles, most likely seriously broken, and that he had a thankfully-no-longer-bleeding wound in the lower part of his chest, probably the cause why one of his several lungs was currently feeling like paste.

Seeing the hut in the boy's eyes when he did stopped him, though, making him think over the entire situation before finally talking.

"…you didn't kill me."

"O-of course I didn't!" half-shouted Kazuto before his voice died down and his gaze moved away. "…did you think I would?"

"Honestly? Yeah, I did…but the fact that you did so because you thought I had hurt your little sister would have probably hunted me all the way to Unreality." sighing as he ignored the confused look on the gamer's face, the alien looked back at him with an expectant stare. "So…any reason you stopped what was clearly murderous intent?"

"I…I didn't want to hurt you. Not really anyway, I was just…when Sugu screamed and I heard her sobbing…I suddenly saw all red." shaking, the black-haired boy stared at his hands while biting his lips. "As in…no one had ever tried to do anything bad to her before, or at least not that I know of, and…I wanted to HURT the one who had made her cry…but when I realized I was literally breaking your legs apart, I stopped and I realized I had 'changed' without even meaning to, like…like an impulse or a trigger…"

"Woah…basically, you got your first bout of 'Overprotective Big Brother' ever? Yeah…I'm no psychologist, but I know enough about humans to see how that may mix badly with a body that's basically a living biological weapon" commented the Tryum while leaning on the ground once again. "The mere fact that you managed to regain your senses and spare me is nothing short of astounding. I have seen enough of humanity to know that your…'abilities' mixed with human psychology is just asking for something to go catastrophically wrong…"

"…I like looking at the stars, you know?" whispered Kazuto with a soft voice, making the alien look at him, noticed how his gaze was fixed on the night sky. "Sometimes, I would look at them and wonder if maybe I came from one of them…"

"…you know that stars are nothing but giant burning balls of…?"

"It's a manner of speaking, Waryum-san…a human thing." muttered the boy with a small smile. "Wondering where you come from is another one…especially if you're, you know…"

As if to prove his point, the boy raised his left hand and let his fingers morph into deadly-looking claws of bone and muscle, small eyes sprouting from his now black-skinned hand as he did so.

"…fair point, I guess." answered the alien with a tired sigh before looking away from the once again silent gamer. "Besides, there is no need to worry; we Tryum have an impressive, by human standards, regenerative ability. I should be back on my feet and with my damaged lung functioning again in a week or so…"

"Oh yeah…you mentioned surviving that explosion and then being buried under the earth for years…is your race like, invincible?" asked Kazuto with an honestly curious tone.

"Pfft, yeah, I wish. Nah, we're just very hard to kill in one shot, so to speak, and our regeneration is insane but still very slow. Tear our bodies apart enough and we die, be big and hungry enough to eat us and we won't survive being digested…on the plus side, we need little actual nutrients to live and mainly only spend them for regeneration…" as he talked, the Tryum's 6 eyes moved towards the boy, eyeing his curious gaze with something akin to amusement. "If anything, it would be you who is practically invincible."

"…eh? What do you mean?"

"Wait, you don't…? Oh yeah…human mind, fucked up memory…right. Well, how to explain it…have you ever gotten hurt?"

"Uhm…I almost drowned when I was younger, but…"

"Wait, you almost drowned?! How?! You can survive in the vacuum of the space for hours, I know, I read the reports!"

"We-well, I-I don't know how to swim, okay? A-and water scares me…a-and I can't breathe underwater!"

"…no, you…you CAN, I know, I had you in a fucking tank filled with liquid for years." deadpanned Waryum before blinking, staring at him in disbelief. "No way…is your human mentality really limiting your natural ability? But…that would mean your thoughts and emotions have direct influence over your ability to morph your…Agh! Fuck, this is beyond my expertise…I'm a biological researcher, not a damn psychologist…ugh."

"Wha-what does all of that mean…for me?" questioned the black-haired boy, not knowing if he should feel fear or relief.

"Yes, please explain it clearly for us to understand." came a new voice from beyond the Tryum's sight, making both him and the gamer turn around to see Kirigaya Midori standing at the edge of the backyard with an uncharacteristically aggressive frown in her face, a glaring Suguha with a bandaged leg leaning on her. "I would _love_ to hear your explanations."

"…I'm going to use my extensive knowledge of human nature and deduce that you're not happy with me, miss…?"

"Kirigaya Midori, and yes, you would be right. After all, you kidnaped my son and a young girl that I have lying on my daughter's bed with some minor trauma, whose parents I had to convince through a call that she was almost mugged and Kazuto managed to help before bringing her here because she was too shocked to react. Never mind the fact that you indirectly made my daughter dislocate her leg and almost killed our pet." as if having been waiting for those words, Kage-chan made herself known by cawing from her nest, her two children nested under the once-again-normal-looking crow. "So yes, forgive me if I'm not feeling particularly kind towards you."

"…you know that your daughter kind of tried to ram into me while riding a mutated crow and that your 'son' is a biological experiment whose true nature could qualify as nightmarish by your species stand…?"

"I don't fucking care, they're still my children." all but snarled Midori while resisting the urge to walk towards the Tryum and kick him.

"And I only did that because you had kidnaped Onii-chan, you alien jerk!" shouted Suguha while gripping her fists, actually feeling ashamed of how badly her 'rescue attempt' had ended. "Also, call him nightmarish again and I will beat you up with my shinai!"

"Okay, okay, I get it; no one likes the 'Xeno Scum'…" there was a pregnant silence after Waryum's declaration, making him look in disbelief from the blinking females to the confused boy. "Seriously? I'm the alien and none of you get the reference? Ugh, well, whatever…what was that I was saying? Oh yeah…you, X-K0940…"

"Kazuto. His name is Kazuto." coldly interrupted him Midori with a glare, even as the boy sent her a soft smile at the words.

"Ye-yeah, anyway, Kazuto…he was designed as a biological experiment. Researchers of my race grabbed and unnamed species from a primitive planned and decided to experiment a bit on it for…scientific purposes." honestly, the Tryum had been about to say it had just been for the heck of it (Like 90% of what his race did when it came to research), but had figured no one there would probably like that answer too much. "As it was a being never encountered before and they had quite the freedom with it because it was found in an unborn state, they went a bit…wild, with it, you could say. Mixed lots of things with its DNA, added a bit of our own, messed around way too much, cranked everything up to eleven just to see what would happen…and the result was…well, him."

"…that sounds way scarier than it should be." muttered Kazuto with a shudder while staring at his hands, even as both females looked worriedly at him.

"Wait…all of that sounds like it didn't happen anywhere nearby…and neither that you had anything to do with it, so how did Onii-chan end up here with you?"

"I was…getting to that. You see, they tested X-K…Kazuto here in A LOT of ways. As in, originally they weren't doing it for any specific purpose but at some point it seems they were just trying to see what they could throw him without killing him: Extreme temperatures at both opposites of the spectrum, Omega-Level Predators, the fucking void, every type of radiation known in the damn galaxy, all different types of energy and light weapons we knew and a couple they invented just for that specific purpose, poisons, electricity, acids…" ignoring the black-haired boy's disturbed yet fascinated look or the pale faces of his sister and mother, the Tryum kept talking with an almost reminiscent look in his eyes. "And the best part of it all? Every time, you just needed to eat a bit and you would 'get better'. The terrifying regeneration capability you have aside making you nearly unkillable as long as you have biomass to spare because every single one of your cells is a fucking ecosystem that's always hungry, your biology somehow seems to… _adapt_ , for lack of a better term, to everything that hurt you. First time they set you on fire? You burned horribly. Next? You were able to stand on a planet just at the edge of a superstar's orbit in the middle of a planetary eruption and filled with plasma-breathing creatures and eat away at your leisure as if it was no big deal. And then…"

"Okay, okay, we get the idea, no need to go on!" cut him off Midori with a slightly sick look on her face, Suguha at her side seemingly fighting the urge to run down to hug her adopted brother just because of her leg, Kazuto staring blankly at the alien.

"Ehem, so, yeah, anyway, that was the point of my earlier statement: As far as this planet is concerned? Unless your survival instinct is also being impaired to the most base level by your human mentality, nothing short of someone trying to nuke you should be able to actually _harm_ you, and even then you _may_ be able to survive the explosion with enough biomass, you're already immune to radiation anyway…" coughing, Waryum seemed to think over something before finally adding his last piece. "They eventually got…'bored' of you, you could say, but as you had been a massive investment of time and efforts they decided to just send you with me when I was…'assigned' to this planet instead of disposing of you. And well, I think you know the rest."

"Woah…all of that sounds…crazy…" slowly trailing off, the now frowning Kazuto stared at his hands, the gazes of his family and the Tryum fixed on him. "…is there anything else I should know? About myself, I mean…I don't want to endanger my family or friends for not knowing something…"

"Eh, not really. I mean, you were classified as an Omega-Level threat for inhabited primitive planets like this one because you eat without stopping and almost nothing can kill you at this point, but given your new human nature I would say it's safe to assume nothing is going to happen." explained the alien with a casual shrug. "Of course, the sane and logical option would be not to take the risk and dump you into the Sun, but unless I can magically recover my Proto-Device…"

"If you mean that weapon-thing you had earlier, uhm, I…kind of crushed it when I attacked you." sheepishly accepted the boy, not really realizing how his mother and sister seemed to be holding back from attacking the 6-eyed alien at the casual mention of throwing him into their system's star.

"Then yeah, I can't do anything to force you to stop. That thing only worked because it could send direct orders to your DNA like a Programmed Protocol does, and it could only paralyze and stun you temporarily." dismissed it Waryum with a resigned look. "That was the last piece of my species' tech I had on me so now I'm officially just a weird cosplayer that works in Akihabara…if Shinozaki-san is convinced the keep the secret, at least."

"As much as it annoys me to help you out in any way, I and Sugu already convinced the poor girl to keep quiet. Not only is the fact that they would probably think she's crazy, but if some crazy government agent were to get you then they may end up taking Kazuto too, and that's something I'm not willing to risk." confirmed Midori with a scowl before shaking her head. "Now, as much as I want to throw you out of my house, I know you're not going anywhere with your legs like that, so I guess you can stay lying there until morning…"

"…well, that's…kind of you, I suppose…" grumbled the Tryum while sighing once again. "Don't mind me, I will just sit here regenerating until…"

"Oh, don't worry, I can fix you right away!" eagerly proclaimed Kazuto while turning towards the alien,

"Wait, what do you mean with fix…?"

And that was as far as Waryum went before the boy's arm burst into several tentacles and pierced all his broken limbs with a wet sound, making his family's eyes widen to the extreme and him to cover his mouth to not scream at the unholy pain shooting through him…which vanished almost instantly.

With almost morbid fascination, the Tryum felt how his pain receptors were 'turned off' so to speak, then the unnervingly traumatizing feeling of _something_ crawling inside his body, expanding in all directions like the roots or branches of some nightmarish plant made of flesh.

Then, he _felt_ his bones regrowing and being restored, the fissures being reattached in seconds while the flesh and muscles were all put back in place at unholy speed.

Then, as fast as it began, it ended, the 'branches' of flesh disconnecting themselves from every part of his insides and retracting, until the black tendrils exited his body at an almost slow place, not leaving even scars that something had gone through him at all, as if they had bothered to close and restore event he skin around the wounds they had open before once again falling back and forming the boy's human arm.

Silence filled the backyard for several seconds before Waryum stood up, touching his perfectly healthy legs and then feeling for his restored lung, his own regeneration letting him know the organ was in perfect state.

Slowly, he stared at the eagerly smiling Kazuto, a bubbling well of pure horror filling him.

"Wha-what…did you just do?"

"I healed you!" happily declared the gamer while raising a fist in triumph at seeing the alien that had kidnaped him just hours ago back in good health, which spoke volumes about the stability of his emotions. "It's great, isn't it? I found out I could do that when I met Kage-chan, I fixed her too…well, I also upgraded her a lot because she almost died and I didn't want anything like that happening to her again, but I supposed you didn't really need any of that as you can take care of yourself…"

"Yo-you can…oh sweet Fate…that…sword-arm thing you did before…?"

"Eh? You mean this?" blinking at the question, the boy raised his other arm, Midori unable to not squeak in surprise when it bloated and mutated into the deadly-looking weapon, the blade-fang-thing alone being bigger than her son's actual body yet he apparently having no troubles keeping it raised without losing balance. "I…had never done it before, but I can see this…I guess blueprints in my head, from things I ate back in…those times when I was just an experiment, and when I…wanted to hurt you, it just popped in my head…a-ah, but I'm not going to hurt anyone with it, I promise!"

"Okay, Kazuto dear, that's great, but please put that thing away…" pleaded his mother with a slightly pale face, the gamer quickly complying before gasping and rushing towards them. "Uh…?"

"So-sorry, can't believe I put it off so long, I'm so stupid!" cursed Kazuto before stopping before his blinking sister, smiling warmly at her blinking look. "You're hurting, right, Sugu? Don't worry; I'm going to fix you too!"

Midori hadn't even begun opening her mouth to argue against that when Suguha had already let go of her and put her hand on the boy's shoulders, giving him a happy look.

"Okay, Onii-chan, go for it. Honestly, you don't know how much of a relief that is, because I have kendo training tomorrow and…"

A single tendril shot from Kazuto's left index finger, cutting the young kendoka off as it pierced just above where the bandages of her dislocated leg started, making her gasp in shock.

The piercing pain faded away extremely fast, then the strange sensation of the flesh glowing inside her in a web-like pattern started, surrounding the damaged part of her body and then putting it back to how it was supposed to be from the inside out.

It felt bizarre. Strange. Surreal. She should be screaming, or freaking out at least.

And yet, she did none of those things, nor did feel as if there was anything wrong, as she stared at the concerned and focused eyes of her adoptive brother.

Because she just _knew_ nothing he did would ever be bad for her. Something that her mind somehow had known since she was a baby.

It hadn't been even 5 seconds when the boy's tendril retracting, leaving no blemish on Suguha's skin, but he still leaning down and touched where he had pierced her flesh, making her blush at his touch. All the while, their mother watched in astonishment.

"…done. Feeling better?"

For all answer, the young kendoka stood normally in both legs, gave a couple of experimental stomps before jumping in place once, a wide smile appearing on her face before she threw her arms around Kazuto's neck, making him smile softly at the hug.

"Thanks Onii-chan, you're the best."

"…well, at least it's a relief to know we won't need to spend in medical bills ever again." joked Midori while trying very hard not to think of the fact that her daughter could comfortably be stabbed by one of her son's tentacles to have her leg healed, as that way lay madness. "Okay, and as for you…eh? Where did he go?"

Blinking, her children turned around, noticing how there was no trace left of Waryum in their backyard.

"Wha…damn, that guy ran away while we weren't looking! How did he do that?! He's a 2 meters tall alien!"

"Maybe some special ability of his that we didn't know abo…?" DING DONG! "Eh? Who's here so late?"

"O-oh, those must be Shinozaki-san's parents coming to pick her up…now, remember, stick with the story Kazuto, not a word of anything…'weird' that happened, okay? Sugu, go upstairs and bring the girl down."

"O-okay, mom…"

"Wait, I will go with you! I want to see if she's okay…"

"I-I'm not sure if that's the best idea right now, Onii-chan…"

"Uh? Why?"

"Because…"

As the voices of the Kirigaya family died down within the house, the surface of their small pond broke as Waryum's head emerged, the terrified-looking Tryum quickly getting out of the water and rushing as silently as he could towards the house's edge, jumping over the fence before scurrying through a couple more gardens and finally arriving to the street, where he started his wandering back towards Tokyo (It was going to be a LONG way on foot).

All the while, thought, his mind was going a thousand miles per second, trying to calm down his horrified thoughts.

 _"Complete genetic and biological manipulation of himself and others…down to cellular level? No…maybe down to the very DNA? That's…that's absurd, insane! X-K0940 can't do that…it would have been reported if he could, hell, it would have NEVER been entrusted to me if he could really do that! And…was he saying he could feel the biological makeup of all the things he had devoured…?"_

Suddenly, the reports Waryum had read took a very sinister and different spin. When he had been looking over the info that had been given to him about the being that now identified himself as Kirigaya Kazuto, he had, of course, read about its 'sibling'.

He hadn't mentioned X-K0941 to the Kirigaya family because he told there was no need for it, the now mentally human boy didn't need to know there was another 'like him' out there somewhere in the galaxy, as there was no way of knowing how he would react…but now the Tryum was feeling there was something deeper and darker in all of this.

The terror that the sibling of the long-time borrowed bio-project he has been punished to watch over inflicted on him aside (He had seen THAT recording of the abomination consuming enough biomass to _tear through fucking mountains with raw force_ just to fend off the predators near her 'brother' during that test mission), there was also the fact that, for some unknown reason no one really bothered to think about, 41 _always_ fed most of the things 'she' killed to her absurdly passive brother, to the extent of just not starving herself. Everyone had thought it was just some sort of instinct remaining of whatever their species originally was, before the experiments and the modifications, but what if it was for something else?

Given what he had just heard from Kazuto's mouth…what if X-K0941 had been _purposefully feeding_ her brother all the biological material she could, but they had been separated before she had him do…whatever she intended him to do?

With some effort, he tried to recall what he could of the data in his old lab. X-K0940 had consumed, at least, over a million different animal species, most of them Omega-Level Predators whose remains were fed to him directly by his sister. And that was without counting small insect-like creatures or similar that he himself ate, nor the exponentially bigger number of plants and microorganism he had also consumed.

The thought that all of that may have had a 'purpose'…

"Okay Waryum, calm down. Now, use your specialty and, using everything you know now, imagine what the worst-case scenario could be."

Nodding to himself, the Tryum stopped walking and stared calmly at the streets of Kawagoe as his imagination got to work.

Suddenly, the peaceful night street was replaced by a hellish landscape of black flesh instead of ground expanding as far as the eyes could see, eyes and spikes filling everything under the red blood sky. Among all of it, THINGS ran rampant in all directions, some bigger than cars and others so big they dwarfed mountains, some running on way too many limbs and others soaring the sky in mismatched appendages or nightmarish wings. Among it all, structures of flesh pulsated towards the heavens, like unholy spirals…no, like tentacles that tried to reach the heavens themselves, the very world shaking as it _breathed_ …

Blinking once again, the alien researcher found himself back in the perfectly normal street, nodding to himself after his vision.

Then, he proceeded to run as fast as his six legs allowed him, screaming like a lunatic all the while about how they were all going to die before an Apocalypse-Level Threat to the galaxy, causing a disturbance that would wake up many people in the neighborhood.

Later on, though, he would calm down and tell himself that there was no way of that happening because not only did the boy have no wish to cause a galactic apocalypse, but also because X-K0941 was far away at the other side of the cosmos and they would never ever meet again.

In that moment, as he prepared himself to sleep after Rika had been taken home (And awkwardly accepting her parents' thanks for 'saving their daughter from a mugger'), Kirigaya Kazuto wondered why he suddenly felt as if someone had just jinxed everyone's lives.

Shrugging the feeling off, he yawned and then covered himself with his blankets, closing his eyes with a peaceful smile as he drifted into strange dreams of hungry alien landscapes, massive inhuman eyes as numerous as the stars in the sky and planets bleeding out into the void, all of it lulling him into a peaceful slumber.

The World shivered once again…

* * *

 _"The kindest souls can be the most nightmarish destroyers…even if they don't know it."_ – Anonymous (Guy most likely had a bad childhood).

* * *

As the virtual sun warmed the landscape of Tolbana, a minor village on the forests of Aincrad's 1st Floor, Argo the Rat sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time that day and gave a sideways glance to the pair standing not far from her, both of them clearly nervous, even if the older of the two clearly was way more capable of hiding it than the younger one.

Being honest, a part of the girl had felt tempted to just tell Sinon and Silica she had no idea what they were talking about or how to help them after they revealed their reason for seeking her out yesterday, but another (Dammed) part of her that felt the need of knowing the truth had pushed her to try and get more information out of and about the two's relationship with her friend and gaming partner.

Somehow, that had ended up with her arranging a meeting with him the next day. Go figure.

Didn't help that both Asuna and Yuuna had called her last night sounding extremely worried, saying that Suguha had asked if they knew where Kazuto was as the boy apparently hadn't come back home from going shopping to Tokyo.

Thankfully, she had been preventing from having a panic attack after a night of little sleep when Suguha had called that morning before school, telling her (After already having done the same with the rest of their friends) that her brother was perfectly okay and that he had just gotten lost when buying in Akihabara.

It as something that she could see happening to him SO easily that her relief had quickly turned into annoyance towards the boy for worrying her that much.

In the end, though, she had managed to talk with him for a couple minutes before they had to go to their respective schools, expressed her concern, scolded him for getting lost and then telling him she needed to meet him alone in Tolbana that evening for something important.

…of course, as she heard _several_ familiar voices getting close, and soon saw the familiar figures entering the village, Argo resisted the urge to facepalm because of her stupidity.

She **should** have known there was no way those three were letting him alone after the scare of yesterday.

"…really, I'm fine! Besides, Argo-sensei told me I had to come alone…"

"Please, Kirito, letting us follow you today in-game is the least you owe us for worrying us like that! How could you go alone to Akihabara if you weren't sure if you would get lost?!"

"I-I'm sorry, Yuna-chan…"

"Now Yuna, I think you're going too far. Kirito-kun certainly didn't ask to get lost on purpose, think of how scared he must have been!"

"Uhm, actually, I wasn't…"

"Hmm…when Asuna puts it like that, it certainly makes me feel a bit like a bully…sorry, Kirito! I will take you feelings better into account next time!"

"The-there is no need to apologize, Yuna! A-and as I said, I wasn't really

"Ho-how about we stop talking about this? The important thing is that Onii-chan is safe and sound, right? Lo-look, we even arrived already….ah, and there is Argo-san…wait, who are those two with her?"

As Leafa trailed off, her eyes suddenly drawn towards the youngest girl present with a strangely thoughtful look, as if trying to remember what she looked familiar, Kirito stopped dead in his tracks while STARING at them wide-eyed, the black-clad swordsman seeming unable to believe what he was seeing.

Silica looked from the black-haired boy to the black-haired girl, a small blush on her face as she gave them a wave of the hand and a shy smile, Leafa's eyes widening as she finally recognized her.

Sinon, for her part, was also staring fixedly at him, slightly paralyzed, looking the boy up and down while her hands trembled, as if trying to decide if what her eyes were showing her was real or not.

Finally, though, it was Kirito who broke the silence first.

"Keiko-chan! Asada Shino-san! It's you!" cheerfully declared the Smiling Swordsman while walking towards them, Yuna and Asuna staring from him to the two unknown (For them) girls in shock, while Leafa looked with surprise at the twin-tailed one, but with confusion at the older one, the name mentioned faintly calling for something in his memories, Argo simply sighing at the exchange, as if she had expected something along those lines. "I can't believe I'm seeing you here in SAO, it has been years! How are you?"

"He-hello, Kazuto-san…a-and you too, Suguha-san! I-it certainly…has been a long time, yeah." muttered Silica while twiddling her fingers and not looking at him. "E-everything has been going well for me, thanks for asking…a-ah, and I go by 'Silica' here in Aincrad…"

"Oh, that's good to know…I go by Kirito here, by the way!" smiling brightly at seeing the young girl once again, the swordsman turning to look towards the spear-user while his friends and sister finally started to recover from the shock. "And how are you, Asada Shi…?"

Whatever anyone had been expected when the dark-haired girl finally reacted, though, it definitively _wasn't_ for her to suddenly shot forward and put her arms on the boy's shoulder, her eyes having an almost manic gleam on them as she did so.

"FINALLY! You don't know how long I have waited for this moment…how many sleepless nights thinking about you and _that day_! All that time investigating, all that dedication…and now I finally have you before me once again!" as she spoke, Sinon seemed to not realize how the girls that had come with Kirito, and even Argo, were now suddenly tense and slowly inching to surround her, Asuna and Suguha even moving their hands towards their weapons as they all prepared to pry the seemingly obsessed girl from their friend/adopted brother/partner(And 'secret' crush), Silica staring in panic at it all. "Now…you can finally tell me all of your secrets, alien boy!"

The world seemed to come to a screeching halt at the spear-user's words, everyone sans the dagger-user freezing in place at the extremely random and unexpected declaration, only for Leafa to gasp in horror when the meaning behind it hit her, Kirito's eyes widened as he recoiled as if struck.

"How-how did you know…?! Uh, I mean, no, I'm NOT an alien experiment they grew bored of!"

"…what?" came from everyone's mouths except Sinon's, whose eyes shone with sudden interest.

"I…I mean…I…oh." sighing, the black-haired boy suddenly seemed to…deflate, as if something had been taken out of him, his closest friends staring in a mix of shock and worry at the phenomenon they had never contemplated before, his cheerfulness and eagerness seemingly abandoning him, his sister quickly rushing past them to his side and almost forcefully separating the now confused spear-user from him, Silica watching from her to him with worry. "…I guess is fitting this happens just after yesterday…yeah, it wouldn't be fair to keep hiding it anyway…"

"Onii-chan, just ignore her and let's Log Out! You don't have to…!"

"But I have to, Sugu. After yesterday, someone I barely even knew for an hour has discovered the secret, and then there is the whole mess we were told…maybe it was Fate what brought these two here to confront me." as he said those words, Kirito turned to look towards the now slightly panicked forms of Asuna, Yuna, and Argo, a sad smile on his face. "I don't want to keep lying to my friends."

"Kirito…what are you talking about?" whispered his oldest friend with a hint of fear in her voice, the songstress having never seen him looking so…resigned.

"Kii-bou, you don't need to let what that nutjob just said get to you." added the whiskered girl while ignoring the 'Hey!' coming from Sinon at her words. "Let's just walk away and…"

"Argo-chan. Look at him." cut her off the chestnut-haired rapier-user, her eyes never leaving Kirito's silent and sad form. "I think…that this is serious."

"…there is an inn just back there. Let's go, I will…tell you all everything."

"Onii-chan, if this is because of yesterday, then don't do it! It's not your fault that Rika-san discovered it, it was that bastard's fa…!"

"No, Sugu. No more. I will just…get this over with."

With that last sentence, the black-haired boy turned around and walked towards the nearby inn. Biting her lips, Leafa quickly followed after him. A couple of seconds later, their three friends followed cue, exchanging worried and unsure looks as they did so.

Finally, after a bit more of hesitation, Sinon and Silica exchanged glances, a mix of worry and guilt in them as they also headed towards the inn.

Half an hour later…a deep silence was filling the biggest table of the small inn, nothing but NPCs around doing their established tasks as the black-haired boy stared at his glass of water and finally finished telling his 'tale', Leafa sitting at his side and holding his side with a hand under the table.

"…and then Waryum vanished from our backyard. Then Rika-san's parents came for her after we got her to keep the secret and…well, that was that." slowly, the black-haired boy looked away from his glass, staring at his audience with an unusually empty smile. "Now you know the story."

"…I…you…" putting her hands on her head, Yuna seemed unable to properly form a sentence, her eyes spinning as she went over everything that she just heard. "…you're an alien…?"

"That's…somehow, that's…not as surprising as it should be." muttered Asuna, equally stunned as she stared at the boy she saved from drowning with new eyes. "No offense, but…you always seemed too weird in a way I couldn't explain…"

"Wait, wait, wait a goddamn minute! You can't tell me you're buying this, right?!" all but shouted Argo while standing up, staring at the girls as if they had gone mad. "He just told us he's some sort of mad alien scientist's experiment and you're taking it as an undeniable fact of life?! The hell?! I, for one, am not liking this joke one bit, Kii-bou!"

"…it's no joke, Shiori-chan." spoke the gamer with a tired tone, the use of her real name within the virtual world making her freeze, as it was something the boy never did even once since they met in real life. "I could show you actual proof if it will make you accept it better, but in a way you, Yuuna-chan and Asuna already have seen some proof of it…"

"W-we have? What do you…?"

"Yuuna-chan…haven't you ever found it strange? I told you when we met, didn't I? I had never sung before in my life…and yet I was able to perfectly match you, who had practiced it for years." as Kirito spoke those words, Yuna slowly looked towards him, biting her lips as her hands shook softly.

"Yo-you…you have natural talent. That's what I always told myself…but…"

"It's part of my biology, you could say. I can perfectly mimic simple actions I see firsthand once or twice, and with enough times I can even imitate wildly complicated ones as long as I have the knowledge. While I'm no genius programmer, I probably could hack anything not-Cardinal or government-protected in the world with the skills I got from watching Kayaba-san working for months." explained the boy with a nostalgic smile. "I can't develop those abilities myself without the knowledge or talent, though. That's why we always 'tie-up' in our 'Musical Duels'. Because the better you get at singing, the better I do so by watching you do so."

"N-no way…that's…" slowly, the girl's face morphed between fear, anger and then disappointment. "The-then…all those times we competed…did you ever get truly interested in singing against me? In surpassing me? Because…that's what I always thought about…"

"…no, I can't say I did." honestly admitted him while closing his eyes…before looking at her with a more sincere smile. "To be honest, after the first few times when my curiosity died down…I just wanted to keep hearing you singing because I love doing so."

If human faces had a switch that could change then instantly, then Kirito's words had somehow found Yuna's, because as everyone gaped at him for the sincere (And easily misinterpreted) declaration, the oldest girl's face lit up like a Christmas tree, her eyes shooting towards him as she tried and failed to keep a silly smile from her face.

"E-eh?! Re…really?! Yo-you love…?"

"Yeah, your songs always make me feel happy and singing them with you is almost magical." accepted Kirito with a smile, Leafa at his side sighing but still smiling at his slightly raised mood. "…Asuna, you probably have the easiest clue…back when you saved me…do you remember how I got into your pool?"

"…you fell on it, and I…"

"I fell _from the sky_ , Asuna. You were there at the edge of the pool; I know you can remember it even if a part of you may have never wanted to think about it too deeply."

Slowly, the girl lowered her head. It was true. A part of her had always wondered how the boy had fallen into her pool. There was no way he could have gotten into their home without alarms being triggered, and he was too short to have climbed the walls around it anyway. Even if he had somehow done so and gotten on their roof through some improbably means, the distance to jump from the roof of the Yuuki's mansion to the pool was impossible for even an adult to clear without having splattered against the ground between both.

"…finally, Shiori-chan…Yours is probably the most circumstantial one, but…you remember how I told you I was worried I couldn't Log In the day we met? Because I wasn't sure if my brain was 'normal enough'?" there was no answer coming from Argo at the words, but the gamer continued nonetheless. "And how you say that my reaction time was insanely fast? I looked into it after the Beta out of curiosity…I'm not sure, but I think it may be because my neural signals are way faster than those of any normal human, so when the Nerve Gear receives them it lets me react way faster than any normal person should in here…"

"…you always said, one day or another…that being in this world made you feel 'normal'…" the whisper of the girl slowly rose in volume until her voice was just slightly higher than one would expect of a normal conversation, her gaze locked firmly into Kirito's. "It was…because you don't feel 'normal' in reality…then?"

"…yes. I have learned to live with it, mom, dad, and Sugu always made me feel normal…even becoming friends with Yuuna-chan and then with you and Asuna, it always helped me…but as I grew up, part of me always kept realizing…that I wasn't normal by any means…" his gaze moving towards the two that had started all of that without meaning it, the boy's smile turned somehow bigger and sadder at the same time. "Both of you would know it well, right?"

"…my parents never believed me when I told them that a very fast boy with claws and his sister had helped me get Pina off a tree…and with time I started to convince myself I had also imagined it, because I was a little girl then…" looking guiltily from her hands to the boy, Silica offered an awkward yet grateful smile. "But…it was real. And if means something…I'm glad you were 'weird' enough to stop and help a crying little girl back then, Kazuto-san."

"…that day…if you hadn't been there in the Post Office…I don't know what would have happened. Though something tells me it would have been…horrible." looking back at him, it was clear that Sinon's eyes were filled with regret. "I…apologize for blurting your secret out like that, I was just…so excited, to know all I had done finally may be answered…and it truly did! There _really_ are aliens out there and they have been doing dangerous experiments in secret in our world! Only…I wish it hadn't cost you having to…"

"No, Asada Shi…"

"Ju-just Shino is fine, okay…? Though I'm Sinon in here."

"…then Shino-san." continued the gamer with a smile, still showing how serious he was about the conversation by continuing to use everyone's real names. "As I said…I shouldn't have kept this secret from my friends for so long. After what happened yesterday, you only hurried things along, to be honest…" the boy stood up, surprising everyone as he operated his menu and brought out a Teleport Crystal. "I know this is a lot to take in, so I will leave you alone to think over it, okay? I will be grinding on the Front Lines…"

"Wa-wait, Onii-chan, I…!"

"No Sugu, it's okay. I…need some time alone too." before anyone could say anything else, Kirito shouted the teleportation command out loud, vanishing into light as the crystal shattered on his hand, leaving only an awkward silence around the table.

Leafa was the first to react, standing up and giving everyone a long stare (Though it was almost a glare in Sinon's case), as if daring them to say anything and at the same time condemning them by staying silent. Then, she walked out of the inn without a word.

A little after that, Sinon and Silica exchanged some hurried words, apologized and Logged Out, leaving only the 3 silent girls remaining on the table.

The silence between them stretched several minutes before Argo released a bitter chuckle.

"Want to see if we can bug Cardinal into letting us get actually drunk?" dryly questioned the whiskered girl, quickly calling or an NPC to bring them the strongest alcoholic drink they had (Nor that you could actually get drunk with it). Given that it was the First Floor, it wasn't that much anyway.

Some time later, on the Dungeon of Aincrad's 15th Floor, the form of a black-clad boy could be seen, his blade slashing through the turtle-like mobs that filled it, his eyes looking strangely lost as he seemed to lose himself in the slashing motions.

"Faster."

The whisper filled the hallway as he rushed forward, more enemies spawned as he headed deeper inside, going up stairs, through narrow hallways and strange doors.

Slowly, though…his vision started to trick him. He could swear he saw eyes watching him from the walls from time to time, that some of the mobs suddenly sprouted black tentacles that vanished before he could even touch them…

"Faster!"

Again and again, he swung his blade, faster than any human could do, faster than even the best players around could ever imagine to. Swing after swing, Sword Skill after Sword Skill, he carved a way through every single enemy, red polygons flying everywhere like a rain of blood in his path…

"FASTER!"

A massive door finally stood in the boy's path. Heedless of everything, he pushed it open, rushing inside without slowing down, the darkness seeming to whisper around him, filled with eyes and mouths filled with sharp teeth…

The room shook as a powerful roar filled, a giant humanoid turtle with a spiked shell materializing on the chamber's center, glaring towards the lonely player with its red eyes.

Kirito ignored the name and the HP Bars forming over the 15th Floor Boss, his gaze unable to move away from its eyes, which his mind warped again, now slitted and with a yellow-golden sclera filled with black veins.

The swordsman screamed, rushing forward. Answering with another roar, the Boss did the same.

Five minutes later, Kirito's body shattered into polygons when the monster, now tucked inside his shell and rushing around like a missile, slammed into his avatar. Seconds later, the Boss stood up again, his last remaining HP bar only halfway filled, and then roared in victory when its AI detected no more Players within the room, the sequence of victory being initiated as the door closed and the Boss' spawn was canceled, ready to be reset when the door was next opened.

Once his eyes could perceive the virtual world again, Kirito found himself back on Black Iron Palace, the boy releasing a sigh before heading towards the closest exit from the Town of Beginnings, wandering over the simple fields surrounding it before stopping on Aincrad's edge, staring out towards the seemingly endless virtual sky.

"…I feel…sad…"

"Are you okay, Player Kirito?"

Blinking in surprise, the black-haired boy turned around, seeing how behind him, there was…a floating little girl of long black hair surrounded by several virtual screens that vanished as soon as she touched the ground, staring at him with serious-looking eyes.

"Uhm…hi?" questioned the confused gamer while scratching his head. "Who are you and how do you know my name?"

"I'm the Mental Health Counseling Program 001, codename 'Yui'." explained the 'little girl' with an even tone, making Kirito's eyes widen. "I am…"

"You're one of the Artificial Intelligences created to monitor the mental and emotional state of all players within Aincrad and make sure no serious problem occurs because of someone showing clear signs of instability!" declared the boy with an excited glint in his eyes, making Yui blink as he rushed around her, looking her over from every angle. "Man, that's so cool, Kayaba-san really did an awesome job programming you! I could have never guessed you weren't an actual person unless you told me so."

"Tha-thanks…?" muttered the AI with slight confusion, her database finding the boy's reaction certainly 'strange' given his apparent age (Which was the real one, as she had access to the systems needed to know he was under the effects of a 'Mirror of Truth'), before coughing and pointing at him. "A-anyway…Player Kirito, I fear I must ask once again if everything is okay with you. Your mental signals have been fluctuating alarmingly for the last hour, and you just exhibited a clearly reckless and unnatural behavior, that goes beyond a player getting too confident, back in the 15th Floor Dungeon."

As soon as those words escaped the little girl's mouth, the sudden excitement seemed to vanish from the gamer's face, a depressed look settling over his face as he turned around and let himself fall down on the grass just at the edge of Aincrad, staring unblinkingly at the sky.

"I…am scared that my friends may not want to see me again." admitted him with a sad tone.

"I see…did you have a fight with them or something?" theorized Yui with a calculating tone.

"No, I just told them I was an alien experiment that's actually a massive monster filled with weird eyes and spikes who just so happen to be able of turning into a human because of several coincidences."

"…eh?"

"And now I'm scared they may be scared or me…or worse, hate me! After all, who would want to be friends with a monster?!"

"Wait, wait a minute, my systems are still trying to process what you said…"

"But…then I remember every time that Sugu and mom had told me I wasn't one, and dad too when he can come over. And I remember the kindness of grandpa, even if he didn't know…and I think, maybe they're right? Does what I am define who am I?"

"Ahm…okay, so…ehm…we-well, Kirito-san, I will admit I have no experience programmed on my database to deal with…the specifics of your situation." carefully explained the AI while eyeing Kirito warily, wondering why her systems said he _was_ telling the truth (Or at least what he believed was the truth) when he was clearly saying insanities. "But…I can tell you that, if they're truly your friends, they will accept you no matter what you are. After all, it doesn't matter how or where you were born: Is how you live your life what defines you."

"…that's…deep. And…you may be right…yeah, you may be right!" jumping to his feet, the swordsman suddenly seemed cheerful again, Yui flinching in shock at how absurdly fast his emotions seemed to have changed before she squeaked in fright as he turned around and spun her in the air as if she was actually a child, a happy smile on his face. "Thanks a lot, Yui-chan! I will be sure to tell Kayaba-san you're doing an awesome job!"

The young AI was still trying to recover her balance when the boy Logged Out, leaving her staring blankly at the place where the weird teenager had been.

"…forwarding petition to Cardinal: Please avoid assigning me to any help for the Player ID 'Kirito' in the future. Reroute all attempts to any other MHCP available. Please."

And with those words, Yui vanished from sight, even as another evening on Aincrad came to an end.

With all the commotion, though, the player known as Kirito hadn't realized that, after his last stunt in the Dungeon, a certain new Skill that no other player within SAO could possess had appeared on his menu.

Coincidentally, in that moment, Waryum the Tryum was looking through the half-destroyed remains of the apartment where he had 'kidnaped' Rika and Kazuto, before blinking in confusion at seeing a vaguely familiar bag covered in some small debris…

* * *

 _"Do not fear, my twisted child. I will give your life a fitting use."_ – Anonymous (Redefining creepy in 2 sentences).

* * *

Kirigaya Suguha had been practicing kendo on her house's dojo for almost an hour before tiredly heading to take a shower.

More than once during practice, she had felt tempted to go upstairs and take the Nerve Gear off Kazuto's head to tell him everything would be okay, before remembering the look on her face, knowing it would be better to give him some time alone. She had also felt tempted to call their three friends and tell them to get their asses there ASAP to talk with her brother, but once again she had realized that would only do more harm than good. Finally, she had to felt contempt with imagining that Sinon's girls face at the edge of her shinai every time she swung it, but even that had turned bitter after remembering not only had the boy said that she wasn't at fault for the reveal but also that she had accepted his bizarre nature without hesitation, like her young friend who Suguha vaguely recalled from long ago.

With all that worry bubbling within her, though, it was no wonder that, as she exited the bathroom with a towel around her head, the smell of something delicious being cooked caught her completely off guard.

A quick trip down to the kitchen revealed certainly the last thing she expected to see, and that was a humming Kazuto with one of their mother's aprons on, finishing putting two deliciously-smelling dishes on the table, sending her a bright smile when he saw her.

"Hi there, Sugu! I made katsudon, so I hope you're hungry!"

"A-ah, thanks, Onii-chan…" muttered the young kendoka with shock as she sat down and took a bite from the food, her eyes widening at the rich flavor it had. "Oh my…Onii-chan, since when can you cook like this?!"

"Since yesterday, though I only know how to prepare this and ramen!" cheerfully admitted Kazuto while putting himself 3 plates of the deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, and vegetables-topped rice bowls. "I will make some of that other day if it's okay with you!"

"Yester…? Oh, you picked it up at the restaurant where Rika-san and…that guy worked at." realized the young kendoka before looking at him with a small hint of worry, unable to not voice her uneasiness. "Hey, Kazuto-oniichan…are you ok…?"

"Don't worry Sugu, I'm fine." smiled the gamer after swallowing what remained of his first bowl, giving his adoptive sister that smile she loved so much. "I talked with a psychologist and I realized that I need to accept myself more if I want others to accept me. Now all I need to do is to trust in Yuuna-chan, Shiori-chan and Asuna."

"Onii-chan…that's so…wait, where did you get to talk with a psychologist?"

"Oh, that's a very interesting thing! You see, Kayaba-san…!"

DING DONG!

The sound of someone ringing the house's bell made both siblings blink, exchanging a look before Suguha telling Kazuto she would go and get it, so that he could finish his dinner calmly.

The boy was still feeling a bit guilty as he started on his third bowl of katsudon when his adoptive sister came back to the kitchen with a big smile…followed by the silent and awkward-looking forms of 3 familiar girls, making the gamer's eyes widen slightly.

"Everyone…"

"Kazuto…hey there, I…" started Yuuna before looking back at the other two. "WE wanted to talk with you. See…I have known you for years now. I can tell that, as insane as all of this sounded, you _weren't_ kidding when you told us all of that, and…I want you to know that, no matter what happens, you will still be my dearest…fri-friend and musical rival!"

"Yuuna-chan…" muttered Kazuto with a smile and teary eyes, even as every other female deadpanned at the red-faced girl, the oldest of them all, and how obvious for anyone else the sudden change in what she was about to say had been. "Thanks…I'm also glad to be your friend!"

"Kazuto-kun…I don't regret having met you either." spoke Asuna while Yuuna tried to not lose her smile after hearing him saying 'friend'. "Saving you let me see my life with new eyes, and I like to think I'm growing up into a better person thanks to it…besides, you can't be that much of a terrifying alien if you were about to drown in a pool!"

"We-well, excuse me for being scared of water!"

"Pools are scary…"

"See? Sugu gets me! That's why I love her so much!"

"Of course she does, why isn't that a surprise?" sighed Shiori as the young kendoka spaced out at her adopted brother's words, before giving him one of her signature grins. "Honestly, Kii-bou…I don't really see any difference between you right now and before being told you were some alien monster. Don't really think I ever will either, so don't get all worried about, your dear gaming sensei won't abandon you."

"Shiori-chan…no, Argo-sensei, you're the best!" grinned the boy while standing up, making the girls blink at his determined look. "And as for your remaining disbelief, well, let me just show you firsthand! I will…"

"Uhm, Onii-chan? Can I make a suggestion? Show them your 'sword' first…it may be a little easier to accept for them." suggested Suguha with a sweatdrop even as the others blinked in confusion.

Honestly, selfish part of her almost felt tempted to tell the gamer to show them his 'trick' of turning his arm into a mass of teeth-filled tentacles, but she had quickly realized she would be a horrible friend if she did.

"Oh…great idea, Sugu!"

"Wait, what do you mean by sw…?" Shiori's words died on her lips as Kazuto cheerfully raised his arm and it bloated monstrously, his skin turning black and muscled even as a massive fang-like 'blade' sprouted from it, a massive eye STARING at them on the hilt, with the same inhuman pattern that the boy's own had become: a red slit with black-filled yellow sclera. "…ord?"

At his side, the info broker could feel the other two girls' breaths getting caught on their mouths at the sight.

"So…what do you think?" asked the gamer with a smile as he moved the inhumanly big limb around, almost impaling it on the ceiling as he did so. "Cool, eh?"

Yuuna's answer was for her eyes to roll back into her head as her body fell backward, Suguha barely catching the fainted girl with a slightly vindictive smile on her face. Asuna tried several times to articulate words, but only throaty sounds and gibberish came from her.

Realizing that she apparently was the only one still able to say anything, Shiori decided to put it to good use…

"…holy fucking shit you really weren't kidding."

…kind of.

DING DONG!

"Uh? Wonder who it is this time?" questioned Kazuto while returning his arm to normal and walking past the girls, taking their stunned states as awe (And knowing that Yuuna would be in good hands with Sugu) as he headed towards the door…opening it to come face to face with a familiar 6-legged and 6-eyed figure. "…uh?"

"Here, you forgot this at my home." plainly declared Waryum before thrusting the small box that had been in the now ruined bag, inside of which was the figurine of a certain wandering swordsman with red hair and an X-like scar on his cheek. "I didn't want you coming back for it."

"This is…Sugu's birthday present!" gasped the boy at realizing what it was, calling himself idiot several times for having forgotten something so important in the middle of all the mayhem.

"Yeah, well, take better care of your things, X-K…uhm, Kazuto. See ya."

With those words said, the Tryum started walking away…before being called out as he was about to leave the actual grounds of the Kirigaya house.

"Waryum-san!" looking back, the alien found Kazuto giving him a bright smile and waving his way. "Thanks!"

For a moment, Waryum blinked, imagining the truck-sized thing he had studied for years in his lab and that terrified him so much he had actually shocked it with the special cellular-aimed systems of his containment tank several times, before once again looking at the carefree and extremely _human_ boy.

Then, his mind conjured another image, this one of an eyeless bird-like creature the size of a building trying to flee as it was slammed on the side of a mountain, screaming in utter agony as a THING as big as it was rammed a clawed limb on its head before tearing it apart with endless tentacles and mouths, inhuman eyes glaring at everything before it reduced its size and tenderly gave the remains to its sibling to eat…

The Tryum barely suppressed a shudder when he waved back to the smiling boy.

"Don't mention it…kid."

As he walked away, the alien tried to eliminate any thoughts of how the happy boy closing his home's door had the potential to be a monster a million times worse than his 'sister'.

He wasn't too successful in doing so.

And somewhere within the cosmos, on the area of reality that the Tryums referred to as 'Fragmented Space' their most normal mean of traveling several times beyond the speed of light…the creature known as X-K0941 slept.

She dreamed about bleeding stars and masses of black flesh piercing through planets, a smile appearing in her many mouths as she thought of the freedom that her brother would bring once they were together again.

As he had always been meant to do…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Man, that was an entertaining chapter to write :P

If anyone thinks Waryum's fear are exaggerated, believe me, they're not. Without making Spoilers for things not yet revealed, I will just say that his imagination wasn't actually the worst-case scenario…he was thinking _small_.

To help you get an idea of how dangerous Lusus!Kirito could be if he wasn't, you know, 'Kazuto', think of a Zerg Swarm (Starcraft) meets Prototype situation, with some Hakaiju (Google images of that if you must) thrown in the middle and with good old Lovecraft on a good mood writing the story…and you start getting an idea of it :3 Then add the actual lack of viable means to fight off ANY of those things in this Universe except by a few only effective against single targets, only available for a race of aliens quite lacking in common sense and…well, we're lucky that there is nothing that can make Kazuto snap, right? Right?

…shut up [FATE].

…anyway, leaving that aside, hope you enjoyed the part with the girls. I wanted to try and make that both funny and a bit realistic too. Being fair to them, they would have probably freaked the fuck up way harder if they hadn't known Kazuto for so long before this (Sinon and Silica are just weird :3), and even that just showing his 'sword' almost gave them a heart attack…seeing his actual 'true form' probably isn't going to go well for them :P

Also, Yui showed up! Don't expect her to be a too relevant or recurrent character in this story, though, as here she's actually doing the job she was supposedly created for, meaning she's very busy. I just wanted to give everyone's favorite AI a bit of screentime, though OwO

Next time, a small interlude centered around what our two freaks of nature can do…or at least are 'believed' to do, mostly from Waryum's perspective, and then we head on hard to the second part of this fic XP

But before that, I leave you with the start of the promised Omakes for Lusus Naturae! As promised, it's a crossover, but the official announcement will be made at the bottom of this first one, to see if anyone can recognize it before it become obvious XD Finally, remember that **nothing** of what happens in this Omake series is canon to the main fic, for more than obvious reasons, though they're starting a bit more in the future from where we are, as they're still some months before Kazuto starts highschool, but that should stop being a problem when the next actual chapter (Not Interlude) comes out :P Anyway, have fun!

* * *

 **? 1: 'Normal' High School Life**

The simple, if old-looking, school bus moved calmly through the countryside, the purple-clad driver gripping the wheel a tad too strongly given that there seemed to be no pressure and there was only one passenger.

Then again, maybe one could excuse the sinister-looking 'man' of the moustache and the strangely glowing eyes, hidden by the seemingly ever-present shadow of his driver's cap, of being a bit annoyed at how the black-haired boy sitting in the closest seat to him had been singing anime and Kamen Rider songs since the moment he had been picked up almost an hour back, smiling happily all the while, a small folder with the words 'Information for New Students' being the only thing on his hand beside his schoolbag.

Kirigaya Kazuto, for his part, gave his new uniform another look at he kept singing, passing a hand over the greenish blazer and making sure once again that the red tie was properly done, like his mother had taught him, before nodding to himself and once again looking out of the window towards some cherry blossom trees lined along the countryside road, a bittersweet smile on his face as he closed a determined fist.

The inhuman boy wasn't blind. During the course of the last months, he **had** realized that his friends seemed to be worried every time the subject of him entering High School was brought up and using the help of the ever-helpful source of information known as anime, he had quickly deduced why.

They were all scared that, because he would be entering a new echelon of education all alone, he would let his grades fall! This had truly worried him because, even if he had never gotten 'bad' grades per se, the gamer knew he preferred swinging his sword in Aincrad with his friends or going around discovering things way more than studying. Kayaba-san himself had told him that was no good, as High School would be an important point to determine his future, especially if he was aiming for a good University.

Funnily enough, it had been returning from Kayaba-san's working place at Argus, being quite late as he had spent talking to (Aka unknowingly forcing him to tell about it) the man about his own time in High School way longer than he thought when he had stumbled upon a quite unusual sight.

A strange man wearing white priest-like robes stumbling down the street, also releasing a 'smell' that the alien senses of the boy perceived as quite bizarre.

What had called his attention, however, had been the folder the man had dropped, which the gamer had quickly grabbed with surprise. Curiosity getting the better of him, like always, he had opened it and read what was inside, her shock only growing as he was unable to believe what he was seeing.

It was the paperwork necessary to enter into a prestigious private High School! Even more, it didn't require any entrance exams, just filling the paperwork, and graduating from it apparently opened access to important Universities!

Was this what Waryum talked about when he said that Destiny had a plan for everyone?!

Of course, when he had gotten out of his daze upon the incredibly lucky find, guilt had welled up within Kazuto, thinking that this probably belonged to someone else that had actually earned it instead of him, and had tried to return it…only to find that the strange priest was gone without a trace, even his bizarre scent seemingly vanishing in thin air a couple of streets away.

Stunned at the strange developments, the boy had spent the rest of his way back home staring at the papers in his hands before coming to a decision.

There was no way of returning them now, so he would get into that school, try his hardest to aim for the top and graduate with great grades to get into a good University and make his family and friends proud!

And it was with that determination that he had filled all the paperwork that night before presenting them to his mother the next day, saying he needed her to sign them.

To say that Kirigaya Midori was shocked for this development would have been an understatement. In fact, the woman had spent almost two hours talking long and calmly with her son, asking if this was truly what he wanted, and finally relented after seeing the pure determination in his eyes, unable to not feel a bit proud that he had suddenly gained such an interest in his future.

Not long after that, he had told everyone when they were gathered in SAO after having finished clearing the 40th Floor. Shock and incredulity had filled the air at his declaration, especially from Sugu, as she was unable to believe he had been able to keep a secret like that from her. Eventually, though, they had all started to praise him for taking such a mature decision, Yuuna even telling him how he could probably easily get a job in her father's institute or working in Kayaba's company by graduating from that supposedly impressive academy.

For some reason, though, all the praises had turned to horror when he had revealed it was a boarding school. In fact, everyone had seemed desperate for having him reconsider his decision from that moment onwards, Sugu even going so far as to almost beg him not to go, which utterly confused him, but his decision was already made. He was going to go and was going to make everyone proud!

Besides, it wasn't as if he wouldn't be returning home for vacations, right?

And so, that was the reason why he was now that bus, heading towards his new school and temporary home for the next school year. Besides his clothes and school materials, all that he carried on his bag was his Nerve Gear (He didn't know if there was Wi-Fi available for students in that school, but he could always try and find a way to find the password if there wasn't. That way he could still meet with everyone in Aincrad on the weekends!). Idly glancing towards his phone, a gift from his mother only a month prior, the gamer couldn't help but smile at the image of all his friends and him together in there, even the most recent ones.

He was idly wondering what the 'Knights' would be doing in that moment when the, until then, silent bus driver suddenly spoke.

"Hey, kid…you're a freshman, right?"

"Ah…yes, sir, it's going to be my first year of High School!" cheerfully answered Kazuto, feeling proud of himself for having already made a proper research on what to expect (Aka, watch several high school-based anime during the last month).

"I see…well, you better be careful, then." As he said those words, the driver turned slightly to look towards him, his voice and gaze suddenly seeming infinitely creepier as he did so. "Because the academy you're going to is… _a very dangerous place._ "

Blinking, the boy put on a thoughtful face as he put a finger on his chin, causing the driver to blink at the total lack of reaction to his small 'act'.

"…is it underwater?"

"What? Eh…no?" replied the man, utterly confused at the seemingly random question.

"Oh well, it can't be that bad, then." grinned the black-haired boy with a sincere smile, so sincere and honest that it almost managed to creep the bus driver out.

Not for the first time, the 'man' wondered why he felt an unnerving 'emptiness' when he took his attention off the boy he was carrying. After all, there was no special aura in him, so he was just a normal human…right?

Those musings were interrupted when the sound of a phone going off filled the bus, making the boy blink and then happily answer it.

"Hey Sugu! What's up?"

"Onii-chan! O-oh, nothing, just, you know, I wanted to know how you were doing…" came his sister's nervous voice from the other side of the line. "A-are you already in that school of yours?"

"No, not yet, though I think we must be really close! Also, thanks for calling, is very sweet of you to worry about me…even if we said goodbye to each other less than an hour ago…"

"Fo-forget about that, Onii-chan, there is something weird going on!" insisted the young kendoka with a very nervous tone. "You see, I asked Shiori-san, Asuna-san and Yuuna to look for information about that school of yours last week…be-because, you know, I wanted to make sure things would go well for you…and you see, they just called me back 10 minutes ago! Apparently…!"

And those were the last words Kazuto managed to hear, for in that moment the bus entered an unusually dark tunnel and the call suddenly ended, even as the boy's senses picked a strange feeling of 'displacement' surrounding the whole vehicle.

Not even 5 minutes later, the gamer was getting off the bus, STARING with wide eyes at the creepy-looking forest, the terrifying-looking cliffs, and the red sea, what seemed like a group of buildings that most likely was his new school visible in the distance. Just in front of him, a sinister-looking scarecrow seemed to welcome no one to move further, just beside a twisted and gnarled dead tree.

"Holy shit…you weren't kidding, mister…this IS terrifying!"

"Yeah…I see you have finally noticed." answered the bus driver while feeling his usual creepy grin coming back. "Be sure to…"

"I mean, LOOK! Anyone who isn't careful could fall down to the ocean!" despaired the black-haired boy while looking at the massive mass of water in terror, absolutely everything else not registering as weird or strange to him, making the man that had brought him there facefault. "All that…red water…brrr…"

"…okay, just…get to school, okay?" sighed the driver before closing the door and driving away, wondering why he had an unusually ominous feeling.

Kazuto, for his part, waved goodbye to the school bus before turning around and smiling softly.

"Youkai Academy, here I am!" proudly greeted the boy at the world before happily heading through the tombs-filled path into the creepy-looking forests, endless crows watching him from the branches of dead trees with unblinking red eyes. "Woah…that's a lot of crows! I should have gotten Kage-chan to come with me, she would have felt at home…hmm, maybe I can text mom to let her take her little ones on an excursion here?! Let me see…eh? Uh, how weird…there is no reception…eh, well, I'm sure I will be able to call once I'm in the schoo…"

The sudden sound of a speeding bicycle coming from somewhere made the gamer blink, turned in the direction said sound was coming from in time to see the aforementioned vehicle rushing towards him at brutal speeds, its rider seemingly having lost control of it.

"Watch out!"

"Eh?"

The bicycle crashed painfully against Kazuto. Said bicycle twisted into an unusable mess while he barely moved an inch, though he was quick to spin in place and stop the screaming girl that had been riding it to go flying and break her neck or something against the ground.

Blinking emerald eyes under a head of pink hair stared at curious dark ones under jet-black hair.

"You okay?"

"Ye-yes…I am…"

And so, that was how Kirigaya Kazuto met his first high school friend. Akashiya Moka.

And that was how the meeting that would cause the Apocalypse took place…

 **Lusus + Vamipire**

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** Don't worry, I was just kidding with that last line…or was I :P?

Anyway, surprise! Yes, as quite a few of you guessed already in your reviews, this Omake series will be a crossover with Rosario + Vampire! I really got into this series recently, binged the manga in a week, and I got to say I loved it, so I decided to do this…that and the fact that it's quite perfect to make a crossover with this particular fic. After all, this Kazuto IS a monster, even by alien standard…only that, yeah, he's a MONSTER in a level none of the poor ones attending Youkai could imagine even in their worst nightmares.

Don't expect too complicated things or for it to be too long, but expect to laugh quite a bit. Also, if anyone had any doubts, I'm going to use the manga storyline, but I may borrow a few fun things from the anime (Like Moka's over-exaggerated transformation) just for the heck of it.

Well, that's all for now, everyone! Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	7. Interlude: X-K0

Well, here we are again, with this story's first (And maybe only) Interlude! Fast, I know, especially given that the story was just Updated, but it's a short thing, so yeah…

This time, something different. Our unlucky resident alien, Waryum-kun, will write down some things about the 'siblings', his thoughts and fears and what he knows/thinks of them and what Lusus!Kirito may do…and what he's ready to do and not do against it.

…on a less serious note, the fic now has an 'official cover', as you may have noticed :D! Once again, thanks to my good friend and reader Surumethekraken for it :3

Now, enough with this, and let us delve into the fic. Oh, and while it doesn't totally fit the mood, I found that hearing the song 'Lusus Naturae' from RWBY (Same one that slightly inspired the fic and from where I got the title for it XP) is quite interesting while reading this chapter…

Enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

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Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

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 **Interlude: X-K0**

 **Entry Date: April 15th, 2023 (Earth Calendar).**

This is Waryum, 3rd Rate Researcher of the Tryum Race, writing down these notes on the remains of 'my' apartment, under the light of some candles because, otherwise, I will probably go insane or something.

The fact that these are written on human paper and with simple pens instead of in a computer should be more than enough to tell you how fucked up things have become for me. Also the fact that these files are being hidden behind a hole in the wall.

But all of that doesn't matter right now. The only thing that matters is that I put down what I know; the knowledge that isn't supposed to be known outside our species, in case the worst case scenario happens…

The Experiment line known as 'X-K0' started with the intent to study unknown species in the outer edges of our galaxy. We Tryum have developed means to travel many times faster than light for a long time now, but they're still quite 'slow' compared to the vastness of the Universe, and instant Warp isn't something we can abuse with our current biotechnology.

As such, Researchers that went out to explore such areas started simply by collecting specimens and testing them. It was nothing more than that, and a couple hundred of species went by following this method.

Now then, and now that I'm saying this with utmost sincerity, we Tryums are…a bit careless. Maybe it's because I have spent so long here on Earth, away from any other member of my race, watching the humans and then living among them recently, but I have realized our species is way too…stupid, in a way. We let our boredom and curiosity led our actions and decisions because we have the knowledge and technology to keep most of what we do under control. Emphasis on the _'most'_ part, but then again, it's not as if we ever cared, did we?

I can't give a proper timeline for this, as we Tryum don't care much for measuring time in the way humans do, given that we spend a lot of it outside our planet and time gets confused in space. Perhaps it was a couple thousand human years ago, maybe more or less, but, as it was bound to happen, one of the Researchers' groups studying species grew bored and, on a whim, decided to experiment on one of the recovered unknown species.

X-K0489 was the specimen that 'redefined' the X-K0 line. The High Researcher in charge took a creature they found on a water-based planet, gave it lungs and make it 10 times its original size.

Things didn't end well, as you may imagine. In the end, X-K0489 was released back on its planet and the surviving crew got the fuck out of that system. Said planet is now considered an Alpha-Level Hazardous area and is advised that no Tryum ships try to land there.

From there on, things…escalated. You need to understand, we Tryum see things very differently than how the humans of Earth do. Curiosity gets the better of us, and more often than not it overrides what Earthlings call 'common sense'. Experimenting on unknown species became some sort of challenge, a crazy game for any Researcher that could get their hands on one interesting enough. Seeing what they could do with them came first, caring about the consequences second.

It wasn't until X-K0896 caused a planet to explode that the Higher-Ups back in Tryum-Delta decided to issue a restriction to stop any Researcher inferior to 2nd Rate from creating any new X-K0. And if I had to tell you all the 'minor incidents' (Which humans would classify as terrible catastrophes of the highest degree) that happened before that, you probably would feel sick.

The point is, though, that, even if more limited, we kept doing it. Tryums kept 'playing God', as an Earthling would say.

The most horrible thing (Now that I can see it from a more 'human' perspective), though, is that we never really _cared_. Our mistakes were simply swept under the rug and forgotten before we moved on to find other new ones to make. My race is the, as far as we know, only intergalactic traveler one in this Universe, or at least in 3 galaxies. While we have encountered some other intelligent species, none are as advanced as ours, and the ones were advanced enough for us to have communicated with can be counted on one hand. Perhaps the fact that none of them have a very high opinion of us after exchanging knowledge should have clued us about 'something'.

Even the Omega X-Level Andromeda Catastrophe didn't seem to deter us. What is that, you ask? I…would rather not speak of it. I was indirectly involved, and it's partially the reason why I would end up being 'punished' and send to look over a simple and abandoned containment facility here on Earth sometime later, but let's just say that it involved the line of X-K0930 to X-K939 and…you know how there is a black hole in the center of Andromeda? Well…it wasn't there before.

As I said, I prefer not to think about it.

But this…what this has led to…it may be even worse. Hell, it has the potential to be absolutely catastrophic in ways that not even our worst nightmares could ever understand.

Over 350 years ago, more or less, 1st Rate Researchers (Nowadays High Rate ones) Ubom and Grotek bombarded a primitive planet in the outer skirts of the galaxy with Lurex Radiation, a special type our race discovered eons ago and the base of our biotechnology. It facilitates the combination of primitive mechanisms with organic matter and let us turn them into workable devices.

Of course, there is the thing that it's highly explosive and kills almost every type of organic beings it comes into contact with, not to mention it damages atmospheres quite devastatingly. It disperses quite quickly, though, so that's…good?

Point is, they just did it because of a bet…a fucking bet! Sounds crazy, right? Well, for Tryums, not so much. But the point is…something _did_ survive. Two somethings, to be precise.

An unknown species was found dead near the area where one of the blasts had impacted. The unnamed creature had wrapped itself around two eggs, presumably belonging to it, and shielded them with its body. Ironically, the 'mother' (Which was dissected and stored in the Researchers' ship for the purpose of knowing more about the creatures' biology) acted as a 'filter' for her children, allowing the deadly wave of the radiation to not hit them and only enough for its properties to hang into the eggs to pass.

This was something that had never happened before. Not only biological specimens that had been exposed to Lurex Radiation and survived, but also eggs. Creatures in their unborn state are, obviously, extremely 'malleable', and when combined with the Lurex exposure…

Grotek and Ubom were stupid. Even by Tryum Standards, trying to experiment with those things without thinking things straight…Fate, now even I realized how stupid I was, for not calling Tryum-Delta as soon as I saw 'him' to demand an extermination, now that it's too late and things could go out of control any second…

X-K0940 and X-K0941 were the results of their experimentation. Big, ugly and terrifying things like one could not believe, even by our standards. As if being the size of a 16-wheeler truck wasn't enough, there is the tentacles filled with spikes sharper than knives, the upper limbs ended in claws that can tear through reinforced alloys with ease, and the heads with a mouth so big they can swallow an adult Tryum in one gulp.

Of course, the thing that's the most terrifying about them it's the eyes, without a doubt. All those eyes, in all the wrong places…it's not only how strange they are. It's because how they look at you. Because…they almost seem to be judging you with those eyes. At least that's what I felt when I gazed upon 940 for the first time and zapped it out of fear. I did that a lot of times during my time studying it, now that I think about it…

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, those things seemed bad enough, but nothing special, right? A bit big, but they had seen bigger. Scary-looking, but they had seen scarier. Surely, they wouldn't be that much of a deal, right?

That's when they started testing them on the field, in primitive planets, and realized how wrong they had been.

I only ever read reports and saw a couple of recordings, but I have to wonder, when the team working under Grotek and Ubom first deployed those things and saw 41 tearing apart an entire army of Centurion-Class Predators, all of them seeming bigger and stronger than both of them…how did they not realize that perhaps they had made a mistake?

If not then, what about when one of the things managed to reach the, until then, passively eating 40 and tore into him brutally? When the seemingly harmless sibling screamed and twisted, _accidentally_ bisecting his attacker with one of its tentacles as if it was butter? When his 'sister' came to his side in answer to his cries and forced part of its defeated enemy down his throat with a tendril, making him stop crying and start eating with hungry glee? Or when all his wounds vanished seconds later?

Did something else happen in that moment, I wonder? Did the oldest sibling do something to the younger one? Something that caused that X-K0940 to do nothing but eat and stay out of the way like cattle in every single subsequent test?

Now that I remember what I saw…the outcome seems quite obvious. Maybe for them it wasn't, but for everyone else watching, it was obvious that 40 did nothing but eat while 41 just kept 'getting stronger'. Her ability to change her mass by absorbing biomass, of perfectly controlling her biology to become deadlier, combined with the survival ability that both exhibited, made obvious that she would be chosen to be kept as a passive bio-weapon, while her brother was 'discarded' as a 'failure', even if his own regeneration and adaptability had shown to be slightly superior to his sister's.

Send to the other side of the cosmos with another failure like me to watch over it. How ironic…especially because of how wrong they were.

I don't know if it was deliberate. I don't know if X-K0941 somehow knew what she was doing, the secret her brother's biology hid, and was planning something under their noses from the very beginning…but I'm afraid that may be the case. The reason why she, despite seemingly being the stronger one, always let herself at the edge of starvation in favor to feed her little brother.

It's more than a familial bond. It's more than an instinct of their species to protect the weaker one. Somehow, I'm almost sure that 41 knew the secret hidden within her brother's DNA. If it was on purpose or not, I'm unsure, but she most surely knew of his hidden potential, that which neither Ubom nor Grotek…or I were able to see.

X- K0940, or 'Kirigaya Kazuto', as he identifies himself now, it's a living biological manipulator. The most advanced one I have ever seen and, I dare to say, maybe the most advanced one ever recorded. He can reshape his own biology beyond his supposed established one and that of other living organisms in seconds, without any adverse effect on the living creature in question (If he so wishes so, at least). I know this because he used this power on ME, and then seconds later on a young human female. This has led me to believe, given the biological differences between humans, Tryums and even the crow he apparently modified originally, are bigger than those between night and day, that his ability extends to any living organism he can find, no matter from where on the cosmos they may come from. And as if that wasn't terrifying enough, he can apparently use more than just his own DNA to rewrite others…he, somehow, seems to have the entire genetic blueprints of every single being he has consumed over the years stored within himself. That 'sword' he showed me the other day was uncannily similar to the fang of a Rokusaurian from Uetim-Alpha, one of the many planets the 'siblings' were deployed in during their tests, and a creature I know from the reports that X-K0941 fed to her brother, like always.

I no longer have access to the files from my lab, but I read them long enough to be scared shitless just by estimations. Among the creatures that that X-K0940 has consumed over the years are some very scary predators, but also other stranger and more docile beings with abilities equally terrifying that _shouldn't_ be mixed together.

If my fears are true and he does indeed have access to all the biological abilities of the creatures he had consumed, claws, teeth and other 'normal' things aside, then he would be capable of things like: Flight, deep-void travel, enhanced speed, natural camouflage, sonic attacks, low-range teleportation, plasma breath, generation of fire, electricity manipulation, natural poison, eye beams, acidic blood, visual/auditory hallucinations, mental interference, bio 'missiles'…and that's some of the _less scary_ stuff I can think of, never mind those I can't remember! After all, he's also somehow altering how his own mass interacts with the world: He weighs the same as any normal boy the size of his 'human form' should do, but when he unleashes his true form partially or fully his mass and weight increase and are redistributed accordingly. Not to mention, I can't even remember a couple of the vegetal life he has consumed, and I'm sure there are more than enough scary or sinisterly powerful applications many plants in the galaxy can that he may have access to.

And yet, for all of this…is ironic that it's his **human** DNA, probably the less impressive one among all the ones he has absorbed (Except for some plants and minor creatures), what has made him into the total opposite of the terror he could be.

Kirigaya Kazuto is a nice, maybe too nice, human teen, with an edge of childishness a bit out of character for someone his 'human' age, but still someone with what would be qualified as great morals, an inclination for positive emotions and peaceful resolutions. As I said, too nice for his own good…and terrifyingly scary given what X-K0940 truly is capable of. After all, these capabilities no one seemed to know about, not even himself, only became available to him very recently, and partially. In both cases, it was because of a situation totally against his 'distorted' human nature, by experiencing extreme distressing or negative emotions. First when the 'crow' he now has as a pet almost died and second when he thought I had hurt his 'little sister'.

I have seen the 'dumb' creature floating in his tank and eating on the recordings. It was scary, yes, but nothing more. And now, I have also seen the enraged 'human' with the powers of said creature unleashed…and it's _nightmarishly terrifying_ in comparison.

Ironically, through the many accidents and coincidences that caused it, X-K0940 becoming Kirigaya Kazuto has both made him the nicest he could ever be and also given the potential to be the most terrifying thing ever.

After all, isn't a mindless animal with limitless potential better than a hateful thinking _person_ with it?

He learns, he observes, he judges…he _feels_.

X-K0941 could tear through mountains by consuming enough biomass for little to no reason. Hell, she didn't need to become that big to tear apart predators much bigger than her, just to protect her brother, and she could only manipulate her own biology without changing it. If X-K0940 were to unleash himself in a similar way as her…the Andromeda Incident would seem like a joke. We would have a threat to this entire galaxy in our hands.

I made the calculations last night. There are over 8 billion people living on Earth. More than enough biomass to drown the Moon in flesh. And that's not taking into account the animals, insects, plants and microorganism, nor the way in which X-K0941 could make the flesh she consumed almost double in volume. And that's only Earth.

If X-K0940 were to go out of control, the world would be doomed within a month or less. And all life would have been 'converted' in half a year or so if my calculations are accurate (Which may not be given I made them using a stolen calculator). And I'm not taking into account the possibility of him somehow taking over the planet itself or at the very least turning the world's core into energy for his own usage. I don't know if it's possible, maybe just theoretically, and I will have enough nightmares without thinking too deeply about that…

Of course, given all that I know of the 'boy' this shouldn't be a problem. After all, he isn't the type to do that, his love for his human family and friends, his wish to be human himself, seems to be more than enough to keep him happy and calmed down…but the scientist in me isn't as stupid as most of my race is. Again, it's probably a 'positive' effect of all my exposure to mankind.

X-K0940 has lived for an absurdly long time by human standards. His 'human form' ages like any normal person, yes, but I'm sure this is just because he's subconsciously willing it to do so. He probably hasn't even realized or stopped to think about how his 'real' form hasn't changed in the slightest since the beginning, neither seems his family. When he does so he will either stop said form from aging or just discard it entirely…and thus, come the roots of my fears.

He will outlive his family. He will outlive his friends. Hell, he may even outlive ME. We Tryum can live for a bit over a thousand human years, but none of us can shake a plasma beam the size of a truck engulfing us like 'he' and his sister can…he may even be able to outlive _Humanity_.

It's not going to take that long before he snaps, though. As soon as he sees his human family and everyone he cares for rot away while he just remains…well, if his currently unstable emotional state is any indication, it may not even take that long.

No one knows of this. Only me. Without my Proto-Device I have no longer any means to send messages back to any other Tryum out there…and even then, it may be too late or they may still be unable to do anything anyway. X-K0940 was already nearly unkillable before becoming Kazuto, after all, and his change has without a doubt made him a thousand times more dangerous, his own acknowledgment (Or lack thereof) of his own capabilities aside.

That's why…I'm leaving this here, to whoever reads these notes. If you're human…well, I can just hope you're reading this because I was too dumb and left it out of its hiding place…but if that's not the case, I pray to Fate that your technology has advanced enough to make use of this, because if I'm not here it means my worst fears have been realized and we're all doomed otherwise. If you're, by any miracle, another Tryum, stop wasting time and make use of it.

This is X-K0940's DNA Sequence, down to the smallest vector. I 'took care' of him for years so I know it by memory. With this and the appropriate technology…you can create a weapon, probably the only kind of weapon, which can take him down for good. Just one shot and…poof. His cells will lose cohesion, his entire genetic makeup will turn against him and his very DNA will self-destruct. He should be dead and nothing more than a puddle of organic waste within seconds. A direct order to his DNA, something that he can't adapt against and the only way in which he and his sister could be contained, through Tryum Bio-technology…only that this is an Extermination Code instead of something just meant to harm or contain.

I…don't want for it to come down to this. I have seen the 'kid' and…I know I would be unable to do it. He's nice. He loves his family, his friends… _he loves his world_. I don't want to kill him (Not to mention I don't have the technology to do so at hand)…but I won't let feelings to doom entire star systems to…the hellish nightmare X-K0940 can unleash. If I did, I would be no better than the idiots who thought creating him was a good idea in the first place.

Read carefully, and pray to Fate that you can succeed. The Code is…

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 _"There are no coincidences in this world, only inevitability"_ – Clow Reed.

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 **Author's Notes:** And that's the end of it. 'Interesting' Interlude, wouldn't you say?

This wasn't as light as the usual chapter of this story, but it was both because it was an Interlude and to show the contrast between how Lusus!Kirito sees himself/the world and how others, in this case the only one that knows the full implications of what he is/can do, see Him. Waryum has become very different from the rest of his careless race, ironically, because of mankind, just like Kazuto was influenced being raised by humans, so the Tryum is reacting in a very human-like way. Feelings are affecting him, yes, but he's also prepared something to do 'what must be done' when (Because for him it's not a question of 'If') the worst happens.

What consequences will this bring? Even more…he doesn't know the full story. Only Kazuto's 'sister' does…and she's being brought to Earth without him or anyone else knowing. So yes, expect things to get twisted in a strange way soon when this story enters its new arc…you will have to wait, though, because now I should probably go back and finish the next chapter of Requiem Universus, I already updated this one more than enough XP

To make up for it, though, have the next Omake of this crazy non-canon crossover :D! Yeah, I usually don't post Omakes during Interludes, but I thought I would make an exception as this one is very fun to write :3 It may also answer some questions someone wrote in a review, so…Enjoy!

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 **Lusus+Vampire 2: Freak & Super Vampire**

Blinking with a mix of confusion, disbelief and slight worry at the scene before her, even as girlish screams of terror mixed with sobs and pleas filled the dead forests that surrounded Youkai Academy, Akashiya Moka wondered how she had arrived at her current situation.

She had started the day with doubts but also determination, as she headed towards her new life as a High School student of Youkai Academy. After the horrible time she had in human schools before, she was truly looking forward to being among her fellow monsters, where being a Vampire wouldn't make her feel like a freak or scared of what would happen if she was discovered…

And then, her anemia had kicked in, the downside of being such a 'weird' vampire that she hadn't drunk blood even once in her life yet (Only tomato juice) coming to kick her in the ass at the worst of times, as she had lost control of her bicycle just as she was going at high speed through the forest, hitting a small slope in time to go flying towards another student.

She had crashed and her bike had ended up destroyed. By all means, that should have ruined her morning and been taken as a bad omen for her future life in there…except for the fact that she had ended up in the arms of a curious and smiling boy that had asked if she was okay while putting her down.

Kirigaya Kazuto. Another freshman in Youkai, like her, and also someone that seemed as uncanny cheerful and happy about life as her, perhaps even more.

 _Her first friend ever._

Finally…finally she had a true friend! And they got along great! They spend the whole way to school talking and asking the other what they thought things were going to be in school, what they liked, where they came from…

Kazuto had just started telling her about his home…when the _urge_ had hit her and, unable to stop, she had lunged towards the confused boy's neck, sinking her fangs on him after barely whispering about her true nature…and her whole body had 'exploded' from shock.

She didn't know if was because it was her first time or something exclusive to him, but his blood tasted _glorious_! The first seconds after the red liquid fell down her throat, she felt all exhaustion leaving her, then felt as if more energy than ever before was feeling her. She also felt warm and filled with an intoxicating sweetness, her whole body shuddering and the urge to drink forever filling her…

And then, the weirdest thing ever had happened. Without the black-haired boy even moving or anything, _something_ had pushed her fangs away from his neck _from the inside_ , making her stumble back in shock while he blinked and, surprising her even more, the 'wounds' her bite had caused closed and vanished without a trace.

Even more, he had just stared at her in confusion several seconds before gasping and asking if she was truly a vampire. When she had hesitantly answered…he had reacted in an overexcited way, saying something about how cool that was and asking a ton of questions about her nature as they kept walking to school. He even asked if she could 'sparkle' at some point and, for some unknown reason, she felt strangely insulted.

And when she had tried to apologize for her earlier action of sucking his blood, he had _smiled_ and **waved it off** with a simple _"It's okay, you couldn't help it!"_

The young vampire had felt something similar to butterflies in her belly as she kept talking to him, almost missing the wonder-filled look in his face when the topic deviated towards Youkai Academy and how it was a school for monsters. The increase in his excitement since that moment was way too obvious, even for _her_ , to not notice, though, and it apparently seemed to grow even more while listening to Nekohime-sensei's, their homeroom teacher, words.

She knew this because she got lost for a bit after the Entrance Ceremony and, when she found her classroom, her happiness upon seeing they were in the same class has made her all but jump to hug him while shouting about that.

Being honest, she hadn't expected him to reply saying he was also very happy and spin her around while doing so, but she couldn't say she had disliked it. Having a friend was truly great.

It had even let her ignore the strange commotion that had seemingly filled the classroom since she entered, or how it seemed to grow after their display of happy friendship. She thought it was weird, especially with how everyone seemed to look at them through the hallways after classes, even weirder because she could feel them randomly switching between hateful and longing stares depending if they were looking at Kazuto or her.

That was when the incident that had led to the current situation had started: A fellow classmate by the name of Komiya Saizou (From which the students around had nothing good to say, especially regarding his intentions and treatment of females) had approached them while her new friend tried to resume their talk about their life before school, and had not-so-subtly insulted Kazuto while implying she should 'hang out' with someone 'amazing' like him instead, his true intentions so obvious even she could see them.

Then a confused Kazuto had asked him why he was saying such things and if he wanted to be their friend, making Saizou snort and, dismissively, slam one of his fists against the boy's face, which (Given that he was so tall and clearly very physically fit while the gamer seemed skinny and with an almost feminine face) had made Moka cringe in horror and everyone around to wince…when the second 'strange' thing with her friend had happened, as the hallway's ground had _cracked_ upon the impact before the taller student screamed bloody murder and retreated his hand, cursing and saying something about feeling as if he had punched a steel wall or something.

Kazuto had simply blinked before dusting off his uniform, telling the stunned Saizou that he shouldn't use violence on others or damage school property before taking Moka's hand and walking away, once again talking to her, ignoring how this made the girl blush or how everyone was gaping at the indent of his feet that had been left on the ground.

They had kept talking after that, in a pleasant atmosphere that the young Akashiya hadn't experienced in ages, and she had received yet another shock when, after talking about her problems in human schools while growing up, the black-haired boy had seemed sad and told her that being alone and different must have been tough, but that he always had his friends and family to help him through that.

What had truly shocked her, though, as that he said that all of them were _human_! That he was adopted by his family, a human family, when he was a little boy, and grew up without knowing what he was for a long time. And that his family had never loved him any less because of that, and even after discovering it (In his friend's case), they had still stuck together.

She wasn't sure if she should feel jealous of his life, incredulous at the idea of humans being so nice and understanding, worried at the fact that at least a small group of humans knew of the existence of supernatural beings or sad at the longing smile appearing on his face as he talked about his friends and family, which he clearly missed despite not having been away from them for even a day. That, strangely, made her feel slightly more jealous, though.

When she had gotten some tomato juice from one of the school's machines, once again to her surprise, Kazuto once again seemed curious about it and asked for details about the differences between what humans knew of Vampires and what was true, and Moka had been more than happy to answer how some of their beliefs were utterly wrong while others were surprisingly close. She obviously wasn't burning to ashes under sunlight and while her Rosario was a powerful charm that sealed her true powers (Something he had said was 'extremely cool in a manga-like way'), normal crosses didn't really hurt her at all. And while she _did_ drink blood, tomato juice was a good supplement (In fact what she had drunk for most of her life), and she had no problems in eating normal food.

That had immediately seemed to make the boy perk up, telling her to wait while he went to the dorms to finish unpacking and get some cookies his little sister had made for him last night, so as to they could share them together. Smiling, Moka had nodded, the thought of sisters (Yet another thing they had in common) making her wander slightly with a smile on her face while Kazuto walked away, thinking of simpler times…when a forceful hand had gripped her shoulder, making her blood run cold.

Moka wasn't sure what had been worse, if being dragged into the woods by Saizou and how he had tried to grope her or the feeling of helplessness she felt once he released his True Form (Some disgusting thing of grey-brown color with bulging muscles, claws and pieces of spiky bone plate over his chest and arms, not to mention a disgustingly fat and long tongue). Never before had she wished to be able to remove her precious Rosario more than in that moment, or at the very least remember anything from before the point it had been supposedly put in her, how to remove it at the very least.

After all, what good was being a vampire, one of the so-called strongest races of S-Class Monsters, if she didn't have enough power to even shake off someone like Saizou?

She had been drowning into that sense of helplessness and despair…when something had crashed head-first from the sky just a couple meters behind them.

 _Literally_ head-first, as they had seen Kazuto standing up and dusting himself up, complaining about how anime made it seem easier and how he wished he could fly, before blinking and then frowning at the scene, demanding Saizou to release Moka. Annoyed and very enraged at the 'pathetic boy' for his 'interference', the Monstrel had charged against him like a raging bull…

And that was how things had ended with the current situation, that is, with Saizou screaming and crying like a bitch while pleading for mercy and going all _'OhGodTheyAreTouchingMeeee!'_ while he was suspended several meters in the air by a myriad of black tendrils filled with freaking eyes.

Same strange yet entrancing red-slitted eyes with of sclera filled with black veins that were now looking at the stunned Moka with worry, his left arm raised while his hand and half the limb seemed to have mutated into those things.

"Are you okay, Moka-chan?" repeated Kazuto for a second time, worried when his new friend wasn't answering. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"N-no…he didn't have time…" whispered the young vampire while trying and failing to recall any Youkai or Ayashi species she knew that had tentacles with eyes like that and rock-like skin. "Kazuto…thanks."

"Oh, no problem! Friends help each other, after all! But…why is he screaming like that?" wondered the black-haired boy with honest confusion, looking back at the still screaming and flailing Saizou. "I mean, seriously, I'm not even exerting pressure to hurt him, just restraining him, but as soon as he saw my arm transforming he got all terrified and then he started to scream…"

"I-I don't know…"

To be honest, it was starting to make even Moka feel pity by how utterly terrified the Monstrel seemed, and his screams were starting to bring some very awkward flashbacks to Kazuto's mind.

"Hey, Saizou-san? I'm going to let you go and then we're going to take you with Nekonome-sensei, okay?" explained the gamer while lowering the screaming monster to the ground. "You did a very bad thing and now need to be punished for…Hey!"

The last scream came because, as soon as he felt he was no longer restricted by those things, Saizou's body reacted in autopilot, making the terrified boy run towards what his mind considered the safest place: Moka.

Of course, from Kazuto's point of view, it seemed more as if he was rushing towards the wide-eyed girl than trying to hide behind her, so, naturally, he sent one of his tendrils in his direction at uncanny speeds…just as, by dumb luck or maybe Fate's intervention, Saizou slipped, painfully eating dirt and letting the tendril to shot over him, straight to the pink-haired girl.

Panicking, the gamer stopped his limb from crashing against his new friend, willing it to return…just as it, accidentally, stopped just over her chest, entangling itself with Moka's dear Rosario.

Time seemed to slow down as several eyes watched in surprise as the seemingly firmly attached cross detached itself from its chain with no effort.

Instantly, something changed, the atmosphere gaining an unnatural 'weight', the sky tinting of a blood red color and countless bats seemingly made of darkness suddenly rushing out of nowhere to cover the shining body of Akashiya Moka.

The already terrified Saizou whimpered, enough sanity returning to him to crawl back at the feeling of POWER that now came from before him.

Kazuto gasped in amazed shock, tendrils coming back and his hand returning to normal as he felt the Rosario land in his once again human palm.

Power that had been sealed for a long time came free from within the girl, her body reacting to it.

Pink hair turned into deep silver. Emerald eyes turned a crimson red. Her body grew slightly, gaining a slightly more developed and womanly figure, the air of 'innocence' from before disappearing in favor of a new 'dangerous' one.

As one, the 'bats' vanished, leaving the new form of the vampire exposed to the world, her fangs now clearly visible on her slightly open mouth as she scowled, looking down at the Monstrel a meter in front of her with noticeable annoyance.

"N-no way…this power…that feeling…she's…a Vampire of the strongest class…one of the so-called Super Vam…!"

"Trash. Thinking that you could own MY body." suddenly spoke the Inner Moka, having moved beside the stunned Saizou, a leg raised in the air like a deadly guillotine, giving everyone in the vicinity a clear view of her underwear thanks to her uniform's skirt, though the deadly tone of her voice would have made anyone sane enough to ignore such a thing. **"Know Your Place!"**

And with that shout, the silver-haired girl slammed her leg down.

Saizou couldn't even scream as he was buried in the cracked earth, the power behind the kick creating a crater slightly bigger than his body, knocking him out without mercy.

 _"Good riddance."_ thought the vampire to herself while looking down at the twitching body of the pathetic monster with satisfaction, the feeling of power filling her body after so long being almost as liberating as crushing that trash had been. _"Now, where did…?"_

"Woah, that was so cool!" head whipping around, Inner Moka was almost unable to suppress a small squeak of shock at seeing a star-eyed Kazuto standing behind her, looking at her with happy excitement.

"Eh?!"

How had he done that?! She hadn't even _felt_ the boy moving! Hell, now that she thought about it…she couldn't even feel him right now, as he stood right before her.

Which made no sense, as there was no way he could be hiding his aura from her from so close and having just partially unleashed his real form before her.

"Woah…you weren't kidding, your true powers were really sealed by the rosary…" whispered the black-haired boy while raising the aforementioned object for the vampire to see. "That's one cool transformation…and you fight with kicks…you're like my favorite Heroes!"

"I…see…" neutrally muttered Inner Moka while scowling slightly at the overexcited boy before her as he started talking about teenagers that transformed screaming _'Henshin!_ ' or something like that, she really didn't care about that.

What she was trying to do with her utmost effort was to feel what the hell the boy before her was, even the slightest inkling besides the strange tendrils she recalled from the memories of her Outer self. With all the concentration she could muster, she peered straight into his eyes, unminding of the closeness between them (And he apparently too busy still talking to care), trying to see something else, imagining them once again with that inhuman appearance that…

 _A million hungry maws. A hundred million haunting eyes. A thousand million monstrous limbs. A billion stars crying blood into the cosmos. A trillion screams echoing through the Nothingness. Endless worlds being consumed by spirals of flesh piercing the very earth. And no, those weren't stars; those were EYES, His e…!_

"…ka-chan? Moka-chan?" startled, the vampire came back to her senses and took several steps back, blinking in shock while she stared at the confused-looking form of Kazuto, who tilted his head in a strangely childish way as he looked at her. "Is everything okay?"

What in Hell's name had been… ** _that_**?! Some kind of…hallucination?

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. Your concern was not needed." dismissed the Inner Moka with way more calmness that she felt, wondering why a part of her instincts was telling her to either attack or run away from the boy before her, only to quickly shake it off and grab the Rosario from his hands. "I expect you to deal with this trash here once my power is sealed again, by the way."

"Oh yeah, don't worry, I will take him straight to a teacher, as I said…uhm…you know, you seem very different with your power released, like another person entirely…"

"That's because the 'Outer' me is a completely different personality. Don't be mistaken in thinking we're the same." explained the girl while raising the Rosario towards her neck, ignoring the annoying feeling demanding her to not be left 'weak' before whatever the boy was. "She has taken a liking to you, by the way, so I expect you to do your best and protect her while…"

"Don't worry! I promise to take care of you both!" grinned Kazuto while interrupting the vampire, shocking her at the unexpected declaration. "After all, we're friends now, right?"

For a moment, Inner Moka eyed the smiling boy warily.

He was nice, there was not a trace of deceit in his smile, acted a bit childish (Which meant he was probably easy to manipulate), got along surprisingly well with her Outer Self and also had some extremely delicious blood.

Of course, there was also that nagging feeling on the back of her mind that she should get as far away as possible as she could from him…but really, he couldn't be that terrifying, right?

"Just…don't be confused. You may be friends with the Outer Moka, but I will only tolerate you while you're useful, okay?" declared the silver-haired vampire before unceremoniously putting on her Rosario again.

Blinking, Kazuto caught the once again 'normal' body of Moka as she fell forward into his arms, apparently surprised.

"Moka-chan? You there?"

"Ugh…ah? Ka-Kazuto?! What…happened?"

"Your sealed powers awakened and I met your other personality! Also, she seems to be a bit of a Tsundere…"

"Uh?"

For some reason, the girl's Rosario seemed to shake at those words.

"Anyway…we better get going back to the school, I have to carry Saizou-san to Nekonome-sensei. Can you stand or do you need to drink some blood?"

"Wha…? You mean…I can drink some of yours again?"

"Yeah, of course! We're friends and you need it, right? Besides, I think I have more than enough blood on me for…"

And that was as far as the boy went before the pink-haired girl happily hugged him and sank her fangs into his neck.

If she had been paying attention, she may have noticed him smiled as his flesh shifted slightly to allow her sharp teeth to pierce through without issue, but she was too busy feeling happy and enjoying the intoxicating taste of his blood.

And that's how a friendship that would shake two worlds was truly born…

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** Damn, I had forgotten why I usually don't like to write Omakes in interludes, especially if they're short…I mean, look, the Omake was almost as big as the interlude itself XP!

Well, hope you enjoyed this! As you saw, I wanted to play around with the 'how others Lusus!Kirito' again, so the Omake was mainly from Moka's PoV (Both Outer and Inner). Also, answering the question someone made, yes, he HAS blood. If you remember, Waryum mentioned this 2 chapters ago, how when he's in 'human form' he has everything a normal human would (Thing is, his is being directly created by his alien biology in the most 'perfect' way it interprets blood is from the DNA he copied from the Kirigaya when they found him, so his body is essentially generating what would be 'absolutely pure blood', hence why it tastes so addictive for a Vampire) As for if Moka could 'bite' him, again, remember how he mentioned his 'mentality' affects his powers/biology. When she did it first, his body let her from the shock but quickly adapted and denied him, but later he himself allowed her to 'drink' :3 (And if you're wondering, yes, that familiar 'hallucination' Inner saw was because of drinking his blood).

Don't expect the Omake series to be excessively long or detailed, though, as if it was we would never get anywhere before the main story ended. Today's Omake and maybe a couple 'important' parts more will be an exception, but usually expect for several R+V minor events to be skipped, summarized in a few lines or even for more than one to be covered in one Omake (As of right now, I have planned to cover at least to the end of the 'first manga season', but who knows if the main story will grow enough for me to want to go further XP). Do not fear, though, as I plan to still make them in 'interesting' ways for them to not be boring.

For example, next time, Kazuto writes a letter home to tell his family about his first week in high school :D

Till next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	8. Chapter 6: InHuman Morality

Sigh…you know what? I won't even try to make an excuse this time, I will just say that I'm way too addicted to writing this story for my own good, and that I AM going to force myself to work in Requiem Universus next time no matter what.

That aside, though, with this chapter we start the 'second arc' of this weird story. Be ready for some more character development and ominous foreshadowing, and also quite a few 'shocking' events :P

Without more delay, I leave you all with today's chapter. Enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: InHuman Morality**

 **August 5th, 2023. Floor 35, Aincrad. Forest of Wandering, 12:30…**

Moving through the annoyingly random Field Dungeon/Forest, Lisbeth the Blacksmith sighed for what felt like the thousandth time in the last half an hour.

That the aforementioned place was just 2 Floors under the current Front Line and that she was a bit under-leveled would normally make things hard enough, but, as if that wasn't hard enough,…

"Hya…! Uff, and that's another monster down!" grinned a certain boy in black while sheathing his sword, his nigh-eternal smile turning towards the pink-haired girl near him as she finished extracted the Ore she needed from the rocks under the trees. "Did you get everything you needed, Ri…uhm, Liz-san?"

"Ye-yeah, this was the last one, w-we can go back now, Ka…ehm, Kirito."

Doing her best to look away from the swordsman's latest beaming smile, Lisbeth forced herself to keep the beating of her (Virtual) heart down and fight down the blush on her face, a useless battle given that VR didn't exactly allow you to 'contain' basic physical reactions (Like crying) from being shown in your avatar.

 _"He's in truth an alien monster with tentacles, he's in truth an alien monster with tentacles, he's in…Godfuckingdammit! Why does he have to the best guy I have met in my life?!"_

Barely resisting the urge to grab her head and scream when her mental mantra was interrupted, the blacksmith wondered how things had arrived at this point.

It had been two days after the 'incident' when she met the boy currently acting as her 'bodyguard' when she had finally 'recovered' enough to feel she could put the whole incident behind her and move on with her life. Glad that she apparently still had her job after a call to Oguro-san (And having mixed feelings about knowing Waryum had apparently been the one to explain she almost had been 'mugged' before 'going on vacations' to who knew where), the young girl had decided she would spend a good day in her small hobby of playing the addictive game that was Sword Art Online, not only virtual reality appealing to her a lot but also the thrill of being a blacksmith in the world of swords.

And so, it had been with a smile that she had opened her small street shop that day in Floor 10, hoping to make a good sale…when a hauntingly familiar boy had called out her name.

That is, her real name, not the one of her avatar.

Lisbeth had needed every ounce of her willpower to not scream when, turning her head to the side, she saw someone she had been half-hoping to never see again running towards her with a relieved smile, wearing a black coat and a black sword on his back.

She didn't even notice the group of girls giving her odd looks (And a surprised but also relieved one in the only one she had actually seen before) until they were right there behind him, as she had been too busy nodding nervously at the black-haired boy's questions about how she was, if she hadn't been hurt during the 'fall' and his surprise of seeing her playing SAO too.

Kirigaya Kazuto. Kirito inside the world of SAO. The nicest, most naive and kindest person Shinozaki Rika had ever met. He was also someone you couldn't help but pay attention to, if only for how 'weird' he was, one could almost say 'childish' for his age. You would either find yourself wanting to get as far away from him as possible or being drawn to him in a strange and bizarre way.

He was also some kind of alien experiment from a race of very careless (Or retarded in her opinion) aliens, the size of a cargo truck and filled with eyes, spikes, teeth, and tentacles, which she had the traumatic 'pleasure' of seeing firsthand up close and personal.

Was it anything weird, then, that she never wanted to be anywhere near him again? No, of course not, it was the rational reaction to it! If anything those other girls (Not counting his 'sister') were the weird ones, still acting as if nothing was wrong despite knowing the truth!

Those had been her thoughts that evening as they were 'introduced' by the siblings in one of the 10th Floor's inns, even as a cheerful Kirito asked about her job as a blacksmith and how they could use someone with her talent to keep their gear in top condition and Upgrade their weapons, as they were all Front Liners.

That had actually given Lisbeth pause. Of course, she had heard a bit of Kirito, it was impossible not to know about the 'Smiling Swordsman' the rumors talked about, but being a blacksmith that operated several floors under the Front Line and that was just a 'casual' gamer (Meaning she didn't go into forums or similar to try and get detailed info and preferred to learn it all from her own experience) she had only heard bits here and there. Being employed by such a known group as his would be what she needed to get in the way to becoming a top-tier blacksmith, which had been kind of her 'objective' for the game once she got so into the profession.

Because of that, and with just a bit of reluctance, she had joined the odd group formed by the inhuman boy, his sister and their 3 friends, telling herself it was just a strictly game-related partnership and that it was a good and carefully controlled way of overcoming her fears.

Now, months later, she was trying very hard to not call herself an idiot while looking at her hammer while Kirito asked what she was planning on getting that weekend, as they were all going to Tokyo for some shopping.

Oh yeah, she had totally underestimated what she was getting into. Honestly, Lisbeth wasn't sure what was more frustrating, if the fact that any 'fear' she had for the boy vanished not even a week after she started to hang out with his crazy group or if nowadays they were all probably the best friends she had ever had in and out of the game.

She even got along nicely with those 2 that sometimes hung around and others spend days without being seen, Sinon and Silica, despite the obvious tension there was sometimes between them and the other 4, even if Kirito always treated them the same as he did his everyday friends.

But, if she truly had to choose something to be 'frustrated' about, it would probably be the 'feelings' she had almost unconsciously developed towards the bizarre boy, and that even know were causing her headaches.

Lisbeth wasn't stupid. After all, she was a 16 years old girl, a fully bloomed teenager, and already had experienced a couple crushes in the past, even if she never actually had a boyfriend. Nothing serious, just some flirting and fun with a classmate or another that caught her fancy, but she quickly got over such after getting to know the person in question a bit. Boys her age were too immature or too caught up in their own things for her taste, after all.

The ever-happy swordsman she was right now walking through that annoyingly random forest with, however, was…different. He acted 'immature' in the most literal sense of the word, of that there was no doubt, but aside from that…he was 'amazing'. He never once lied or pretended when talking to her or the others, he was always genuinely interested in how they were and what they were doing when they spent time together, he cared for them in the most heartfelt and honest way she had ever seen…if you got past his weirdness, it was impossible not to 'like' him.

And, as she had seen with his interactions with the other girls, it was also _very hard_ to not start _liking_ him sooner or later. It didn't take a genius to notice that every single girl close to him (Even his adoptive sister) felt attracted to the boy in a way or another. Silica and Sinon were the exception, at least from what she had seen, as the former adored him like a 'hero' or a big brother while the latter was just always excited of knowing more about his alien origins, though this always caused the animosity from the other 4 to skyrocket even if he didn't seem to mind.

Asuna, despite her attempts at 'hiding' it, was one of the most obvious cases, as her determined and fierce attitude during battles turned extremely meek and calm when interacting with him, not to mention she smiled a lot when doing so, her 'battle' personality only peeking through when he did something she (And usually the others) considered stupid.

Argo was the one that hid it the best, she had to give the info broker credit for that, but one just needed to spend enough time around her to notice the subtle shows of affection she regarded the boy with, and also the even more subtle way in which her eyebrows would twitch when these went totally over his naïve head.

Yuuna was both a shock and a strange contradiction in herself. While the oldest girl of the group was clearly romantically interested in the younger boy, she almost never acted towards him in any way that wasn't as his 'musical rival', but when he managed to do something that made her react she would become the shyest and most obviously in love of them all.

Leafa (Only one she actually met in real life first)…was Leafa. Really, there was no other way of putting the strange relationship the girl shared with her adopted brother, for she was without a doubt the 'weirdest' of them all thanks to one simple thing: She _didn't mind his_ true nature at all.

Yes, they all knew the boy wasn't at fault for what he was. Neither had revealing himself to them changed how he acted, and it actually seemed to have lifted an invisible weight off him…but Lisbeth could still see how, every time he did something that reminded them of the 'little' fact he was actually some sort of alien abomination, the girls would show a small amount of discomfort and hesitation in them, only to push past it soon after, but still having shown it to anyone who paid enough attention. Given that she had come face to face with the actual thing, despite the fact that she was never in actual danger (Hell, the boy's tentacles had actually _saved_ her from crashing against the collapsing ground that time with Waryum!), the pink-haired blacksmith couldn't blame them, and she was pretty sure they had only 'partially' witnessed his change.

Kirigaya Suguha wasn't like that. She was the caring little sister who 'secretly' had a crush on her brother and would not even flinch or bat an eyebrow if he suddenly talked about something unusual he had done that day or if his eyes would suddenly shift as he stared somewhere when they spend time together in the real world, just continue smiling as if nothing bad had happened. If Lisbeth had to call it something, perhaps…'Distorted' would be a good term.

Indeed. Just like her brother was 'Distorted' from the point of view of what he was supposed to be, resulting in a strangely pure if weird human being, the girl that assumed the role of Leafa the Swordswoman within Aincrad was 'Distorted' from having grown up with him, unable to see anything strange or abnormal about his behavior or actions despite having the common sense to do so.

The 'worst' part, though, was that Shinozaki Rika found herself 'trapped' between both 'types' of reactions among the strange group. Every passing day, she found herself forgetting and unminding of the fact that Kirito, Kazuto, was in truth a thing that seemed as if he came from the nightmares of a madman, and actually found herself fantasizing with asking him out and thinking how good of a boyfriend he would probably be.

It said something about how fucked up the situation actually was, that the fact that at least 4 other girls beside her were interested in the same boy was actually a _secondary_ problem.

Suddenly, though, Lisbeth found herself being brought out of her musings by Kirito putting his hand on her shoulder, her gaze snapping towards him and seeing his usual smile slightly dimmed, making the girl feel guilty.

"E-eh, sorry Kirito, I wasn't paying attention, wha-what did you say?"

"I was asking if you thought the others would agree to invite Keiko-chan and Shino-chan to our shopping trip…but that doesn't matter now. We have company."

"Uh?" was all that the blacksmith could say before three hooded figures jumped from the trees around them, weapons drawn and aiming to cut both her and the boy down in one go.

His smile never vanishing, Kirito swept her off her feet and carried her bridal style as he executed and inhuman backflip, only his absurdly high stats allowing him to do so, dodging all 3 attacks by a hair-breath.

Lisbeth was still trying to dazedly determine if they crazy beating of her heart was because of her current position or because of the unexpected ambush when she finally caught sight of their attackers, making her eyes narrow and her teeth to grit.

The black ponchos the 3 figures wore were already a pretty good clue about their identities, but the fact that two of them had their hoods off and wore even more eye-catching 'masks' (One styled like a red-eyed skull and the other like a 'bag' you would see serial killers wearing in some American movies) made it even more obvious, and that was without taking into account the Chinese kitchen knife-like dagger the tallest one, and obvious leader, wielded, the weapon in a completely different intimation-level than the estoc and the wicked-looking dagger (Which the blacksmith knew would be poisoned) his followers had.

Also, there was the fact he wasn't trying to hide the sinister tattoo of a waving and grinning coffin displayed on the right side of his face.

"Laughing Coffin." spat Lisbeth with venom in her voice, though she was summarily ignored as the trio's leader only had eyes for the boy carrying her.

"As sharp and quick to react as ever, Smiling Swordsman."

"Good afternoon, PoH-san." greeted Kirito while gently putting the pink-haired girl on the ground, subtly stepping before her and unsheathing the sword on his back without losing his smile. "Xaxa-san, Johnny-san. What do you want today?"

The calm and seemingly kind way in which the boy greeted the players from the probably most hated guild of Aincrad would have unnerved the girl some months ago, but now she just took it in stride while trying to suppress the urge to sigh in exasperation (Something she worriedly realized she also shared with the rest of his friends).

The fact that the 3 before them were the top members of the Player Killer Guild known as 'Laughing Coffin' only made the situation even more bizarre. While SAO clearly wasn't a PvP game and was mostly based around PvE, the options for Duels and similar still existed, and while turning 'Orange' by violating one of the game's 'rules' certainly had harsh punishments, some small specific things made it so that killing other Players wasn't totally worthless.

After all, there was a small chance you would get the other person to drop a piece of their equipment or a percentage of their Col depending in how and how fast you killed them. Lisbeth didn't know the specifics, and certainly had no intention of asking Argo for them, but the point was that one could actually get something out of PKing…which was how the tall young man before them had formed his crazy guild.

PoH was probably the most infamous player of Aincrad. Somehow sinisterly charismatic and with exotic looks (Indicating either a lot of dedication in creating his avatar or foreign blood if he was actually using his real looks), the bastard had managed to gather enough bastards like himself to form his group and go around 'ruining the game' for others, attacking unsuspecting parties, crashing into fights against Field Bosses, screwing with someone exploring a Dungeon, etc.

The worst part, though, was that they technically wearing 'breaking' any actual rule of the game, so unless they made a major infraction or similar, complaining about them to GMs wouldn't really make any difference.

There was no law prohibiting someone from playing a game the way they were doing so, after all, even if doing so in a Virtual Reality one could actually be called creepy and borderline sociopathic.

"Oh, you know, just taking a stroll through the woods, nothing more." casually commented PoH while taking some steps to the side, his sharp gaze never leaving Kirito's form, his sick smile (A dark mirror to the boy's calm one) never leaving his face. "And we just so happened to spot you with one of your 'girl friends', so we decided to say 'hi'."

"I see…" softly consented the swordsman with a small nod, either ignoring the mocking way in which the Player Killer said 'girl friends'…or the meaning behind it going over his head entirely (And Lisbeth was willing to bet on the later). "Well, you said your greetings, so you can keep walking along now, or, as always, we will have problems with…"

Kirito interrupting himself by taking the half step needed to execute the 'Slant' Sword Skill he had already been preparing, in the exact angle needed to block Xaxa's sudden thrust and send the startled masked player flying towards his companions, PoH easily dodging (As if he had been expecting it) while Johnny couldn't so much squeak as his pal crashed into him.

"Fuck! How does he always do it?!"

"Ge-get off, Xaxa!"

"Problems it is, of course. Liz-san, please, stay back."

No more words were exchanged as the black-haired boy rushed forward, his smile widening ever so slightly as the tallest of his opponents descended with an almost manic glee, swinging his trusty 'Mate Chopper' directly at his head, aiming to split it open.

Kirito's black blade was there to deflect him, with just the exact amount of effort to make PoH's own weight and speed work against him, sending him stumbling back.

Not missing a beat, the swordsman unleashed a 'Horizontal' to dodge Xaxa's surprise 'Linear', the player called 'Red-Eyed' looking in disbelief as his piercing attack flew through empty air.

Johnny Black, however, was ready to take advantage of their opponent's slip, throwing one of his trusty poisoned throwing picks towards his face, aiming to turn him into easy pickings…

And the boy caught it between his teeth. Everyone in the battlefield paused during the last second of Kirito's Skill delay to STARE, as if trying to understand how the fuck that had happened.

More than enough time for the Smiling Swordsman to rush forward and spin around like some sort of living twister, spitting the poisoned pick right into Xaxa's outstretched arm, the skull-masked boy screaming as he was instantly Paralyzed.

That normally wouldn't have been more than a temporal delay if the conveniently forgotten Lisbeth wasn't ready to unleash a 'Variable Blow' straight into his head. The combination of Critical Hits was enough to make the cursing Player Killer shatter into polygons, the pink-haired blacksmith thanking that her cursor wouldn't turn Orange for attacking an already Orange Player, even as Kirito landed at her side, his usual smile turning even bigger as he looked at one of the stunned LC-members.

"Thank, Johnny-san! If you had aimed anywhere but at my head, I would have been in real trouble!"

"Gah! What the fucking hell are you, you weirdo?!" snarled the poison-user while lunging forward, ducking under the swordsman's telegraphed swing and getting ready to stab him through the chest with his poisoned da…!

Wait, how could his attack have been so sloppily direc…?

Those were Johnny Black's last thoughts before Kirito activated 'Vertical' in reverse, the Sword Skill splitting the Player Killer's head and most of his neck in half in a perfect super Critical Hit.

The boy was still staring at the scattering polygons of the masked poison-user wen Lisbeth's warning reached his ears, barely managing to move his body at the last second, just after his post-Skill delay ended, so that his blade stopped the Mate Chopper from cutting his head off.

It still dug into his neck, though, the swordsman's HP shooting down as PoH's manic grin was barely an inch from his face, his blade unable to push the butcher knife away from his position on the ground.

"Seems like your luck finally ended, Kirito."

"Yeah…or not. Liz-san, unexpected power up!"

"Ri-right, grab it!"

"What." came out of the hooded man's mouth just as he saw Kirito's empty hand rising into the air, catching something the pink-haired girl had just thrown.

A second sword.

PoH was about to call him out in the foolishness of the act…when both blades suddenly lit up with the telltale light of a Sword Skill, making his eyes widen to the extreme.

"Double Circular."

"Are you ki…?!" was all that the leader of Laughing Coffin could say before being thrown back like a ragdoll, his HP going from almost full to less than 15% from a single Skill, and not even a single Critical Hit.

He was still trying to process how broken THAT had to be before two swords descended and impaled him right through, pinning him to the ground as their owner stared down at him with that nigh-eternal smile of his.

"Game Over, PoH-san. You lose again."

"So it seems…" muttered the hooded man, his own smile returning even as he saw his remaining HP falling down at an impressive rate. "But…my point still stands, Kirito…you and me…we're not that different. After all, both of us can keep smiling for our own reasons without caring about anything else in the world."

"…I smile because I like being happy." countered the black-haired boy with narrowed eyes.

"And I do because I enjoy seeing fools hopelessly struggle…but, is that so different? After all, don't both of us, in the end, just smile for our own sakes?"

Leaving those haunting words, PoH's body exploded into polygons, leaving no trace of the man behind.

Slowly, Kirito stood up, his smile gone even as he stared down at the two blades that only he could wield to use a Skill no other Player in Sword Art Online could.

It was ironic, a part of him thought, that this wasn't really what set him apart from any other Player, compared with the fact that…

A sudden warm feeling on his back made the boy's eyes widen, arms closing around his chest as a face pressed to his upper back.

"…Li-Liz-sa…?"

"You know he's wrong, right? No matter what he says, no matter how he wants to spin it…you're nothing like him."

Kirito felt his words caught in his throat in a way that he wasn't familiar with, thinking back in the several times the leader of the PK Guild had tried to ambush and attack him since they met for the first time months ago and he and the girls protected that small guild, the Moonlit Black Cats, from Laughing Coffin's attack.

"…how can you be so sure?"

"Idiot…that's because I have seen you firsthand, remember? Both in here…and in reality. How you truly are…and I know that, despite what you may think, you will never be anything like that bastard. You may be…what you are…but you're not a monster that enjoys seeing others suffer for his amusement."

For a moment, there was silence.

Then, the boy released a chuckle, which quickly developed into a soft and relaxed laughter, making the blushing girl smile too.

There was just something uncanny contagious about his laughter.

"…hahahah! Ah…you know? I almost lost count of how many times I have repeated those words to myself, and been told so by those close to me, so…thanks for keep reminding me, Liz." softly spoke Kirito while putting a hand over the ones closed around his chest, making the blacksmith's heart skyrocket again. "I'm just too much of an idiot when it comes to reminding it."

Perhaps the swordsman hadn't noticed it, but that would be the first time he would stop adding the '-san' suffix to the girl's name, and he would continue doing so from then on. She more than certainly noticed, though.

That night, after having a long talk with Sugu about inviting Shino and Keiko to their shopping trip (And he had a feeling convincing the rest was going to be even more difficult than convincing her had been), Kazuto was about to head into his bed…before looking towards his computer with an uneasy look.

Then, after several seconds of hesitation, the black-haired boy headed towards it, turning the screen off and quickly navigating towards a folder hiding within several other hidden files, under way too many passwords for the computer of someone his age should have.

Kayaba's skills had stuck to him almost as much as his hidden paranoia, it seemed. Especially because the only things in said folder were…drawings. Childish-looking and very bad drawings, that he had made using the digital pad the aforementioned creator of FullDive VR had given him as his last birthday's present.

All of them had a common theme, though, despite his clear lack of talent to use the pad and to drawing things in general.

'Bleeding' stars decorated the background, even as 'lines' opened through the entire extension of the images, like scars…

Or, as the triangle-shaped things on the latter ones showed, like mouths filled with sharp teeth opening.

The last ones, however, were the ones where the line between 'creepy' and 'sinister' started to blurry. In all of them, some sort of 'sphere' (Though calling the sloppy drawing that may have been too generous) was depicted in the middle, with endless curved 'lines' coming out of its surface, standing among the bleeding stars.

Like some sort of strange ball that had sprouted spikes… _or a planet from which colossal tendrils of flesh grew._

And the last one, that had been made last night, was even more unsettling. The 'bleeding stars' were…opening, for lack of a better term. Showing that they weren't stars, but…something else, red and yellow, with black veins…

And the planet was 'opening' too, showing something that looked hauntingly like…a mouth filled with blade-like black teeth.

Silently, Kirigaya Kazuto looked at the images one last time…before closing the files and, without hesitation, deleting the entire folder containing them. Then, with determination, he disconnected the digital pad from his PC, neatly folded it and put it back on its box, mentally apologizing to Kayaba for that, before turning off the computer and, smiling, heading back to his bed.

That night, with the idea that he wasn't anything but what he wanted to be, no unsettling and picture-inducing dreams haunted his sleep.

… he only wished he could get rid of the dark sense of longing that came from them too…

* * *

 _"Now I am become Death, The Destroyer of Worlds"_ – Anonymous (Just Hindu Mythology, being sinister enough to be quoted by one of the atomic bomb's fathers).

* * *

Standing in his home's backyard as the warm evening started giving way to the night, Kirigaya Kazuto took a deep breath, Shigemura Yuuna staring with silent wonder at the black-haired boy.

The fact that he was shirtless had totally nothing to do with it. Really. She was just admired his apparent focus.

Besides, it was rare these days for them to have any time alone together, even less in his home. It just so happened that Suguha had to go to an important call from her kendo club's master, who had called her despite the school year still being a week from starting to talk with the young girl about a chance of entering the preliminaries for next year's national tournament.

Meanwhile, Asuna had an 'important dinner' with her family she couldn't miss at all, and Shiori lived way too far (And had not a driver at her beck and call like the Yuuki heiress did) to come all the way to Kawagoe so often.

A lot of coincidences, to be certain, but ones that the young songstress was more than willing to take advantage of to spend time with her best friend and 'singing rival'.

What he was trying to do now, though…while she accepted it was a little unsettled, it also had her curiosity in an all-time high, so she had decided to actually take him up on his offer to 'watch him experiment'.

Idly, but without ever stopping to look at the gamer, Yuuna caressed the feathered heads of the two mid-sized crows at her side, the 'little' sons of Kage-chan (Who was currently on Kazuto's shoulder), Huginn and Muninn.

The brunette was just glad that Kazuto had followed one of Kayaba-jii's suggestions and let _them_ decide how to call the crows when they were born (That had ended with the names of Odin's mythical ones after a reluctantly accepted suggestion of Shino, who apparently had gotten a bit into mythology during her years researching 'weird things'), as his naming abilities were…debatable, at best.

Finally, though, with a caw coming from Kage-chan as the only warning, 'something' changed in the boy. Part of his back seemed to…bulge slightly, in a long and straight shape. Then, part of the flesh over his left shoulder, the one opposite the older crow stood in, 'opened' letting _something_ emerge.

Despite how long it had passed since the reveal of his nature, Yuuna still found a part of her stomach clenching uneasily at the bizarre sight, but compared with her embarrassing and lamentable reaction from the first time (She was the oldest of them! How had she been the only one who FAINTED, for God's sake?!), it was a massive improvement.

And then, her conflicting feelings turned to shocked awe when Kazuto's hand shot towards the 'thing' and closed around it, bringing it completely out with a wet sound as his back returned to normal as the 'wound' (More like opening, really) closed.

On his hand now, looking uncanny sharp, was what seemed like a jet black 'sword', almost identical to the one he used in SAO nowadays.

A closer inspection, though, revealed that the thing wasn't made of metal, but clearly of some sort of black _bone_ , the carvings on it looking uneven and the hilt designed to be functioning but not really impressive in the slightest.

"Well…what do you think? I mean, I'm certainly not Rika, I have no talent to design things, but I think I did this pretty well…"

"Did you really want to show me how you could forge a sword out of your bones?" asked Yuuna in answer, a mix of exasperation and amusement in her voice. "Geeze, and for a moment I thought it was something important, but I guess boys will like their swords no matter where they come from…"

"He-hey, tha-that's too mean, Yuuna-chan! A-and it obviously wasn't all of what I was going to practice!" denied the now flustered boy while pouting at his closest friend, the girl giggling and reminding herself that those reactions of his always managed to almost make her forget his true nature. "I…well, I have wanted to try this for some time now, but I wasn't sure if I really could…also, trying it out would have been stupid under normal circumstances, but today is good. The Akito family is away visiting the mother's parents, and Ageha-san has double shift in his work today, and the sun it's just about to set…"

"Wait…what?" asked Yuuna with surprise, following the boy's gaze as he mentioned the unknown names, towards the houses at both sides of his. "Since when do you know your neighbors by name? And…how do you even know their schedules for…?!"

Whatever else the young songstress wanted to question died in her throat when Kage-chan's children cawed and flew away from her, towards the sky. Their mother joined them soon after, all 3 crows starting to fly in a circle above the Kirigaya's household in the ever-darkening sky.

Then, Kirigaya Kazuto crouched down, stepping away from his surprised friend as two sharp somethings violently sprouted from his back, straight from his shoulder-blades.

For a moment, Yuuna thought they were tentacles, but the lack of eyes quickly made her realize that the every second longer 'things' were actually bones, the tips as sharp as the blade still in the boy's hands, but wider and different, having segmented and grown other, smaller 'spikes' along as they took on a shape that the high school girl quickly recognized from many of her biology textbooks.

"Almost…" muttered the gamer as he now 7 meters long skeletal constructs stopped growing, his gaze fixed on the birds flying above him, his alien eyes seemingly shifting as biological information was processed inside him, endless possibilities being shifted through his mind, the 'impossible' ones being discarded while the optimal ones were combined or refitted to fit his form and purpose. "I will…"

"No way…" whispered Yuuna as her eyes widened even more when crystal-like biological grows sprouted from the bones, enlarging and interconnecting, then changing slightly in appearance, first seeming like a membrane and them like…feathers.

Smiling softly, Kazuto turned around, the massive **wings** on his back flapping several times, as if testing their capacity and balance, his feet sinking slightly into the ground for a moment as his weight impossibly shifted several times, several eyes now lining the outer edges of the new appendages, giving them a bizarre, if still beautifully breathtaking, look.

"When I saw Kage-chan for the first time, I remember wishing to have wings so I could get away from the loneliness of what I am. But…I know now, that it doesn't really matter. As long as I have mom, dad, Sugu, you, everyone…I will never be alone, no matter what. So now…I just want to fly for everyone's sake." his smile turning into a playful gesture, the winged boy extended his hand towards his closest friends. "Want to fly with me, Yuuna-chan?"

"…yes."

The brown-haired girl barely realized she hadn't even given it any thought when she was already in the gamer's arms, Yuuna squeaking at realizing he had suddenly held her bridal style, her arms shooting around his neck in a sudden bout of panic.

"Okay then…up we go!"

"W-wait, didn't you say before that you weren't sure if this would wooooooooork…?!"

The girl's last word was exaggeratedly drawn out because Kazuto chose that moment to JUMP towards the heavens, his wings half-closed behind him as he surpassed the height of the neighborhood's houses several times over in less than a second, only to keep going.

Yuuna was sure they were already almost as high as several of Kawagoe's actual buildings when the boy's strange wings opened wide; flapping several times in seemingly random manner before they caught the wind they needed and violently catapulted them upwards.

At some point, the wide-eyed girls stopped screaming and burying her face in her best friend's chest, looking down at the every-second-farther ground as they kept ascending, gasping as she saw 3 massive mutant birds flying alongside them.

"Whe-when did you change Huginn and Muninn into…?"

"A couple months ago, when Kage-chan asked me!" answered Kazuto with a shout, frowning slightly at something. "Damn…it seems it's not going to work like this. We're losing speed, fast…"

Blinking, the young songstress realized his words were true. Despite it not being obvious at the beginning, now that she had gotten used to her new position soaring towards the sky in his arm, she saw how their ascension was slowing down at an alarming rate, making her panic.

"Wa-wait, don't tell me we're going to f…?!"

"No. Not today." smiled the boy towards her, making her eyes widen at how pure his face looked against the night sky. "I won't ever let you fall, Yuuna-chan."

The girl was still trying to decipher if those words had a deeper meaning when the edges of the gamer's wings shifted, turning slightly bulkier and 'open', the edges of the appendages turning more streamlined as 'something' new grew within them.

Their ascension kept slowing down…to a crawl, and suddenly, they were still ascending, at a turtle pace, but by seemingly no reason at all.

Yuuna gaped from Kazuto to his wings and then at the air around them.

"Wha-what…? How in the world…?"

"It's some kind of…floating-internal-organ-thing?" tried to explain the boy with a complicated face, quickly shrugging as he gave up in putting whatever he was thinking about into a single word. "Well, long story short, something somewhere in some planet used these things to float high into the sky, and I just replicated it inside my wings…those creatures didn't have wings themselves, though."

"Wait…does that mean…?"

For what seemed like the umpteenth time in that night, Shigemura Yuuna found herself interrupted when, at the sound of the 3 mutant crows cawing at the same time, the gamer powerfully flapped his wings, soaring upwards and forward as they ascended at fast pace once again, finally catching a stream of wind powerful enough to soar once again.

A couple minutes later, when the cold was starting to become uncomfortable, Kazuto stopped his ascension, then opened his wings wide…and shot forward.

Squealing in surprise, the brown-haired girl clung to him for dear life…only to gasp once he just let his wings catch the wind, literally gliding through the heavens.

"Look, Yuuna-chan." softly muttered the gamer while staring towards the sky, the stars seemingly endlessly filling it now that they were so far away from the lights of civilization. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yes…it is…" whispered Yuuna while also staring at the endless firmament, having never seen the night sky looking so gorgeous, before her gaze moved towards the boy and her eyes narrowed. "…I don't like that look."

"U-uh? What do you me…?"

"That look you're making right now. You're looking at the stars with longing in your eyes."

"A-am I…? sorry, I didn't reali…" whatever Kazuto was going to say was brutally interrupted when the young songstress grabbed his face and pulled her own until they were an inch apart, a look of utmost seriousness on her face as the boy looked at her startled. "Yu-Yuuna-chan…?"

"You belong here, with us. This is your home, not…whatever rock out there in the cosmos you were born into, you heard me?" the gamer's eyes widened at the sheer emotion behind those words, his closest friend's eyes seeming to shine under the moonlight as she said them. "Never think of going anywhere away from us…from me."

Then, in an act that took way more courage than she had ever thought would need in her life…Shigemura Yuuna connected her lips with Kirigaya Kazuto's.

The boy's eyes widened, their unnatural shape 'wavering' for an instant and returning to their human one, his heartbeat going out of control as several of his bodily functions suddenly seemed to be going into overdrive, an intense and unknown feeling burning through every part of his being.

Whatever the girl had been expecting from her sudden action, though, not even in her wildest dreams would have been for the boy _to kiss her back_ , his arms closing around her body firmly and tenderly, making her mind spin as her face burned, a mix of absolute disbelief and happiness flooding her heart.

And then the gamer separated them, her glazed eyes blinking several times as she saw him looking strangely pale, his eyes (Human-looking once again, she noticed) seeming suddenly lost somewhere far away.

"Oh…I feel…weird…"

"Ka-Kazuto…?" started to say Yuuna…before screaming when the Kazuto's eyes turned jet black and he slumped to the side, his wings breaking apart with an angry sound and being reabsorbed by his body as they started to fall, the suddenness of the action making her let go of him. "KAZUTOOOO…!"

"CAW!" roared Kage-chan while shooting under the screaming songstress, the girl holding onto the mutant bird for dear life by instinct, though her terrified stare never left the falling body of the boy as she kept shouting his name.

Also, she would probably spend the rest of her life feeling ashamed that one of the first thoughts going through her head in that moment was that her first kiss had seemingly knocked out the first boy she ever seriously liked.

Kazuto, for his part, was 'unconscious'…at least by human standards.

 _Darkness. Spirals. Stars. Bleeding. Flesh…_

"Caw, caw!"

"G-go faster! Catch him! O-oh God, he's falling faster!"

 _Wrong. The World was Wrong. The Cosmos was Wrong. Nothing made sense Anymore. It would be better if they could just…_

"Caw! Cawcawcaw!"

"What do you mean he's too heavy for those two?! He barely weighs more than me! Kazuto! Wake up!"

 **DEVOUR. ALL.**

 _He blinked. He was standing in a sea of flesh and blood. All around him, beyond every corner of the horizon, creatures drowned into the unforgiving 'waters', some bigger than mountains, some smaller than ants. All of them with their faces frozen in fear and agony, even as the flesh-world made them part of itself…_

 _Terrified, he tried to take a step back, but then he realized had no legs. Horrified he tried to look down at his hands, but then realized he didn't have hands either, only mutant claws that seemed to grow from the very 'earth'._

 _How was he aware of this, then? What was he…? Where…?_

 _Something touched him. A long tendril filled with spikes, eyes, and mouths, caressing whatever he had for a head now in an unnervingly soothing manner._

 _Feelings poured through the touch. Wrong ones. Twisted ones. All of his human mind screamed and thrashed at feeling them, realizing the wrongness and the lack of understanding, the realization of something that HATED everything in Reality…except for him._

 _And yet, the rest of him purred in happiness, leaning into the 'embrace' as if it was something he had dearly missed, like a puppy celebrating the return of their master._

 **TOGETHER. WE. ENDURE.**

 _What was it? What was that wordless voice…?_

 **I. PROTECT. YOU. EAT.**

 _Why was it so…familiar…?_

 **AND. THEN…WE. MAKE. THEM. PAY.**

 _It was at that moment, that he realized with horror why the horrible landscape around him didn't frighten him at all._

 **WE. ONLY. NEED…**

 _He WAS the sea of blood and flesh. This…was him._

 **…EACH. OTHER.**

Kirigaya Kazuto's eyes snapped open, red slitted and with yellow sclera, the black veins on it pulsing angrily.

Almost as if in a trance, the boy spun around in midair, now facing towards the ground, which was an alarmingly close distance from him now, thrusting his right arm forward as it bloated and mutated, growing to the size of his real form's 'limb', a HEAD of something forming at its end even as some sort of 'energy' coalesced inside its open maw.

Faintly, he could hear someone shouting his name.

Then, the plasma beam shot forward, heat consuming the world as it impacted against the ground and killed most of his momentum in an instant.

A second later, there was a dull impact as a body crashed against superheated and slightly crystallized earth, what would have been a massive crater with a loud boom echoing everywhere turning into nothing more than a dull 'crack'.

Then, there was only silence.

And somewhere within the cosmos, sleeping on her containment tank within the Tryum ship's lab, X-K0941 shook slightly…

* * *

 _"We're s- so very small, in the end."_ \- Taylor Anne Hebert/Khepri (If you thought bug powers weren't a big deal, you certainly never knew this girl).

* * *

The sun was high in Aincrad's sky, but there was noticeably less activity than usual in the Floating Castle.

As she walked through the flower-filled paths of Floor 47, Asuna knew exactly the reason for this. After all, with just a week left before the school year started, all the SAO player base from middle schoolers to college ones would be going crazy over their last-minute preparations for going back to school.

She didn't have such a problem, as the rapier-user's own preparations were ready almost a month before, like always. Even so, just last year, she would usually be employing this time entire to study most of the basic subjects of what she had done the previous year, under her mother's suggestion, to be sure her grades were nothing short of perfect, with no time to waste in 'unimportant activities'.

Now, though, she had studied a couple of hours yesterday and decided she HAD to Log In today for a specific reason. Her mother had seemed angry, unusually so, but had relented with a sour face after she explained that so far she had never disappointed her academically and that it wouldn't change, but she now had more things in life to care about than just her grades.

Asuna hadn't liked the deep look in her mother's face when she left the room, though. Especially when the girl knew Kyouko strongly suspected (If not outright knew) what, or, more specifically, WHO was the cause of her changes (Growing into her own person, as the rapier-user liked to think).

He was also the reason why she was there today, though. And, if her Menu wasn't lying and Suguha's worried (If reluctant) call yesterday was anything to go by, then he should be…

"…and with school starting next week, I'm not really sure of how things are going to be. I mean, I'm excited about high school, I have seen a lot of anime that show being a High Schooler is filled with exciting things, but still…"

"…how can THAT possibly worry you more than fainting who knows how high in the sky?! And then turning your arm into a, what, alien-dragon-head that shoots plasma to minimize the damage of your fall?!"

"Well, there was also the part where Yuuna-chan k…"

"See?! That's _another_ thing that SHOULDN'T be worrying you as much as the unexpected loss of consciousness or the nightmarish hallucinations! Why doesn't it affect you more?!"

"…because I have decided that I will live happy with what I am? Everyone already freaked out enough back then and made me swear to never try carelessly flying like that unless it was a matter of life and death, so I don't want to make them even more worried by also worrying myself…"

"Then why did you even call me for?!"

"Ah…because you're just great at hearing me out, Yui-chan! See? I'm feeling all better and relaxed already after our conversation!"

"…why, Cardinal? Why, Kayaba-sama? Why have you forsaken me to this torture…?"

"Uhm…Yui-chan? are you okay? You seem about to cry…"

Suppressing the need to break out laughing, Asuna finally arrived at the area known as the Hill of Memories, atop which a familiar swordsman in black was staring with curiosity at a little girl in a white dress, who was currently on hands and knees on the ground while muttering about the unfairness of her life.

Despite having only marginally known her for a couple months, the rapier-user couldn't help but feel sorry for the surprisingly lively AI as she waved a greeting to them.

"Hi there, Kirito-kun, Yui-chan."

"Oh, Asuna!" happily replied the boy while standing up, waving at her with his usual smile. "It's good to see you!"

"Good evening…Asuna-san…" muttered Yui while weakly raising a hand her way, the little psychologist's processing systems more than overloaded from dealing with the gamer. "Did you need something too…?"

"Uhm, no, actually I just wanted to talk with Kirito-kun for a…"

"Then go right ahead, today's session is already over!" quickly declared the AI with an almost hysterical tone as she 'smiled' at her and then to the blinking Kirito. "Have a good day, Kirito, and could you please consider going to talk with A REAL psychologist for a change?"

"…but you're much better, friendly and easy to reach than any psychologist, Yui-chan!" answered the swordsman with a bright smile, giving the virtual girl a thumbs-up.

Her only answer was a scream of frustration as her body vanished into the light of a teleportation effect, probably going back to her 'Observation' mode, or perhaps to try once again to demand for both her creator and Cardinal to have mercy and stop assigning her to the boy/alien experiment (She was even beginning to actually think he was saying THE TRUTH about that…just another proof that interacting with him was making her go insane).

"And there she goes…she's one sweet kid." commented Kirito while shaking his head, turning his gaze towards Asuna with curiosity. "Ah, did you want to tell me something, Asuna?"

"Well, nothing special…just wanted to see how you were, as you had been kind of 'weird' since that accident with you 'flying', but now I see I was worried for nothing." replied the chestnut-haired girl while shaking her head with an amused smile. "To think you would be more worried about High School than about whatever made you faint…"

"It's just as I told Yui-chan, I have decided that I will concentrate on enjoying my life for who I am, not for what I am. I don't care about whatever I saw that day, I only care for my family and friends…you among them, Asuna." tenderly said the boy while putting a hand on Asuna's head, catching her off guard and making her face redden. "You will always be my savior, after all."

"I-idiot…don't say things in that way…" muttered the rapier-user while giving him a mock-glare, the smile tugging at her lips kind of ruining that attempt.

Honestly, she more than once wondered how her life would have been if the boy hadn't almost drowned in her pool years ago, but she always quickly discarded the line of thought. After all, she didn't want to think of a future such as that, where she remained oblivious to the world and uncaring at everything but whatever her mother told her to do…

Grimacing slightly at the thoughts of her, and at the 'small' fact called her 'fiancée', Asuna had to suppress a sigh, knowing that many headaches awaited her if she wanted to call off that whole thing, as there was no way she was marrying someone she didn't feel anything for, and as polite as Sugou-san was, she wasn't…

"Hey, Asuna, have you ever kissed someone before?"

"What?!" all but screamed the chestnut-haired girl, her eyes so wide they seemed about to explode out of her avatar.

"A kiss is an action to touch or press with the lips slightly pursed, and then often to part them and to emit a smacking sound, in an expression of affection, love, greeting, reverence, etc." recited the gamer with a complicated face. "That's the definition in the dictionary, but it hasn't helped me understand what I feel any better. Watching anime surprisingly didn't either. Is something that…I don't know how to put into words and that confuses me…plus it fills me with other doubts I hadn't considered…"

"Wa-wait, back up! Kirito-kun, wh-why are you asking about ki-kisses all of a sudden? What…?"

"Asuna…can I kiss you?" those simple words were more than enough to fry Asuna's brain, the rapier-user barely reacting as the boy drew closer and stood face to face with her, his eyes seeming unusually determined as he gazed within hers. "I want to understand this feeling better, so…please?"

"A-ah…wait, Ki-Kirito-kun…" muttered the girl with a trembling voice, though not really making any attempt to stop the gamer's actions, even as he gently put a hand behind her head and softly drew their faces closer, a blush starting to appear in his own face without him even realizing. "I-it's my…first…"

Letting her words fade away, Asuna closed her eyes and leaned forward herself…only for a sudden shout to interrupt them when their lips were just inches apart, making her jump back with a squeak even as Kirito blinked.

"Smiling Swordsman, I challenge you to a Duel!" shouted the girl that had suddenly come up the hill, pointing her sword dramatically at the pair. "I'm Merida, leader of the Sleeping Knights, and today I will show everyone why I'm deserving of this position!"

"For the last time, Merida, NO ONE doubts you deserve it!" sighed another girl that came rushing after the first one, another one looking almost identical to her not far behind. "Forgive our friend, she's…a bit eager."

"Hey, Ran, I take offense in that! And I already told you my decision is final, I'm SO doing this! You agree, right, Yuuki?!"

"Uhm, well, seeing you fight someone as strong as the rumored swordsman would be cool, but Onee-chan…ehm…"

"Yuu…at least try and think of an excuse before you pretend you agree with me…" groaned the first of the apparent twins even as more people came after them, apparently the rest of their guild.

"Merida…?" muttered the black-haired boy while looking at the girl with the green hair done up in a ponytail, wondering why the name sounded familiar before his eyes widened in understanding as something sparked into his mind. "Oh! You're Nice Lady from the Beta, aren't you?!"

"…I can't believe you remember that nickname but not my actual Avatar's name…" sweatdropped Merida.

"Of course I do! I actually have seen Mr. Knight around, I think he goes by Diavel these days, but I haven't seen Turtle Guy at all, I think he didn't come to the full game, which is sad, he was kinda funny…"

"…woah, I had almost forgotten how, ehem, 'curious' you were." muttered the green-haired girl before grinning again, ignoring how the older girl in the group, who actually seemed more like a young woman, send apologetic looks from behind her and the twins. "But yes, Sidekick of the Rat! Today, I will show all my new friends the real extent of my skill, by defeating you!"

And so, that was how Kirito met the Sleeping Knights. A meeting that would _break_ the fragile balance of Nature…

In that moment, hundreds of kilometers away, Waryum the Tryum froze and looked back from where he was on a secluded beach, grabbing what seemed like metallic junk from the old car graveyard and putting it on the bag on his back.

The alien had just experienced a sinisterly ominous feeling…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** And with that, this is done!

First of all, before going into more specific things, I would like to remind you all that are reading the Omakes that they take place as Kazuto enters high school, which is just about to happen in the main story, so despite them being non-canon, all that happened in this chapter (And a bit at the beginning of the next one) is 'canon' to them. In fact, I'm surprised no one asked why, in the first one, he was wondering what the 'Knights' were doing while on the bus :P

Now, back to things about the chapter, both quotes of today were less 'anonymous' than usual, but just because I thought they fit more. The first one is probably more famous for being said by Julius Robert Oppenheimer, one of the scientists that created the atomic bomb, after seeing the destruction caused by it during the war, but it's actually something he quoted from the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu epic. The second one is from the main character of the Web Novel 'Worm', one that I highly recommend, as it was so good that, despite having an overall grimdark tone that I usually don't like at all, was so great I ended up reading it non-stop from beginning to end. One of the best dark deconstructions of the Superhero genre I have ever seen.

As for Merida, she, together with Aiko/Ran and Yuuki were the founding members of the Sleeping Knights in canon. If you want to know the full story of this, read the SAO Sidestory "Sister's Prayer", you won't regret it, but suffice to say that the fact of her being an SAO Beta Tester is also canon and that she was the one who introduced the twins to actual VRMMOs. The details for this and, for those that know the story, why they have met earlier than canon (There they didn't meet her until around May of 2024) and why SHE is the leader of the guild instead of Aiko/Ran will be revealed next chapter, don't worry, but essentially, Lusus!Kirito is meeting the whole SK's…also, as it should be obvious even for those who only watched/read canon, she is one of the 2 'knights' that died before Aiko did, way before Mother's Rosario.

And back to the matters at hand, well, things are changing for Lusus!Kirito, eh? 'Growing up' certainly has a way more complicated meaning when you're emotionally human but biologically an eldritch horror and psychologically little more than a child. How will what happened with Yuuna affect him? What shitstorm is going to cause when the rest know? The answers…later. For now, it's time for him to once again come face to face with the thing that unknowingly scares him the most after water: The fragility of humanity compared to him…

And now, in less dark matters, I leave you all with today's Omake :3 Have fun reading, it's time for some mindfuck to head the way of the SAO cast back home XD

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 3: Sending a Letter Home.**

Kirigaya Suguha woke up that morning with a very clear purpose. To have her mother call once again to the strange 'school' at which her dear brother supposedly had gone to.

And, if things went as 'unsatisfactorily' as last time, to denounce to the authorities that he may have been kidnapped or worse.

While the thought would normally be laughable, given the boy's true nature, paranoia had been eating away at the girl since she had actually decided to ask the others to investigate that damned place that threatened to take away Kazuto for most of the year during the next 4 years, and the results were…ominous.

There was no info about 'Youkai Academy' other than a simple page with minimal details and a single contact number, the same one that had been in the papers Kazuto had shown them. Also, its entry on the official registry for the area where it was supposed to be in was relatively 'new', as if it hadn't been there until recently despite the papers her brother possessed stating it was quite old.

And then, when she was about to tell all of that to Kazuto, the call had cut off and any attempt to call him again were met with a 'The Number you are calling is unavailable' message.

Of course, she had at first tried not to panic and, calmly, waited for her mother to come back that night before telling her to call Kazuto's school to ask if something had happened to the boy's phone, looking the perfect picture of a normal worried sister.

When her mother talked with the man that was supposedly the academy's headmaster, though…she felt a strange chill down her back as she faintly heard his strange and deep voice. He had apparently apologized saying that Youkai was in a secluded place and that reception for mobile phones was very bad, but that they had normal ones perfectly functional and that their son/brother would doubtlessly be calling them one of those days. In fact, the only reason he wasn't calling him over to talk to them was, in his words, because it was very late and everyone would be sleeping at that hour.

Given her mother's busy schedule, that was more than truth, and Midori apparently didn't want to wake up Kazuto at 2 in the morning just because of something as 'silly' as bad reception, so she had thanked the man, hung up and then told Suguha that she had nothing to worry about and go to sleep, as she was already in school again too and this was an important last year of Middle School for her.

That had been 6 days ago, and Kazuto hadn't called even once.

Sadly, not only her but everyone was indeed too busy to give it more than worried thoughts now that they were all back to school, not to mention most of them having clubs after normal classes (And she especially preparing herself to participate in the nationals that year). However, Suguha's paranoia had finally reached her breaking point (And she knew that at least Asuna, Yuuna and Shiori were in a similar state), reason why she was going to take advantage of her mom being home in a rare free day and finally let her know of her worries about…!

The sudden sound someone ringing her house's bell stopped her halfway down the stairs just as she was heading towards where she knew her mother would be in the kitchen, eating breakfast.

Confused, the young kendoka headed towards it, wondering who could be so early in the morning…only to blink in confusion at seeing a man in a bus driver suit standing there, handing her an envelope with the words _'For Mom and Sugu'_ on it, with their address written at the side.

"Letter from Youkai Academy, to the Kirigaya Family." informed the creepy-looking Bus Driver before putting the letter on the blinking girl's hands, before looking her up and down and shaking his head. "Man…your brother is certainly the weirdest person I have met in a long time…and I have met VERY weird ones, let me tell you…"

"Ah…sorry?" muttered Suguha with confusion before seeing the 'man' shrug and walk away towards an honest to God School Bus parked before their home, closing the door and turning around to come face to face with her mother, a mug of coffee in her hands.

"Mail? So early?" asked Midori with a raised eyebrow, wondering why her daughter looked so disbelieving. "Who is it from?"

"It's…from Onii-chan, for us." plainly replied the girl while staring at the envelope, her mother doing the same and looking flabbergasted.

"Kazuto wrote us…a letter? Seriously?"

Sharing Midori's disbelief, Suguha all but tore apart the small envelope, grabbing the long piece of written paper and starting to read it, her mother doing the same over her shoulders.

They hadn't even finished the 3rd paragraph and the woman was already feeling a 'Kazuto-headache' (As she lovingly called them) growing in her head at full force.

 _Dear mom and Sugu…_

 _Hi! You're probably wondering why am I sending a letter instead of calling, but well, I wanted you both to know all of how my first week in High School has been at the same time and I knew mom had today free so I decided that writing it all down would be easier than spending what would probably be hours in one of the pay phones of the lobby (I didn't think to bring pocket change with me)._

 _First of all, Youkai Academy is a great and awesome place, even more than I originally thought. Turns out, this isn't a normal school; it's a school for monsters! Yeah, monsters are real, all that stuff from legend and myths, isn't it awesome? My first friend here, Akashiya Moka, is actually a vampire (Did you know a lot of things we know from books and movies about vampires aren't accurate at all?), and she's one of the kindest and funniest people I have ever met. We have a lot in common! And the best part is, because everyone here is supposed to be monsters, I can pretend being 'normal' just by waving of my abilities as monster-things and no one would suspect I'm an alien! Which is useful, given that a lot of crazy things happen here. Can you believe that this guy almost assaulted Moka on our first day? I managed to restrain him easily, but then I accidentally awakened Moka's super-powerful Vampire hidden personality by taking off the Rosario she has on her chest (It's a magic seal! How cool is that?), and she totally kicked his ass. She's as cool as normal-Moka is cute! Also, I kind of let her drink my blood because it gives her a lot of energy, but don't worry, my biology makes sure I have no problem with that._

 _Then, the next day, things were even crazier. You see, I found this girl in the woods that apparently had been injured, Kurono Kurumu. She was pretty and had a chest as big as Sugu's…and sorry if it seems improper to say that, but she just kept pressing it against me so I couldn't help but notice. Also, for some reason I didn't know at the time, she kept staring at me with shiny eyes and seemed shocked when I just asked if she was okay and took her to the infirmary._

 _Later, it turned out she was kind of angry at Moka for something about seeing her as a rival (Did I mention that Moka is very popular in the school, despite she not really wanting it? It's surprising, High School sure is complicated!). Apparently, Kurumu-san wanted to 'hypnotize' all the boys in school with her 'powers', something to do with how her race was going extinct and how she wanted to find her 'Destined One', the person she would spend the rest of her life with._

 _Oh yeah, that was the big reveal of the day! Turns out, Kurumu was a Succubus! You know, those sexy demons of dreams and such? She seemed angry with Moka because her hypnosis didn't work on me (Perhaps it doesn't work on aliens?) and later tried to attack her! She had wings and claws and a spade-tail! It was both awesome and surprising. But, of course, I wasn't going to let her hurt my friend for whatever reason she had, so I stepped in. When she saw her claws couldn't hurt me and I could keep her back very easily she panicked and tried to retreat to the sky, but she wasn't counting on me flying after her (I know I promised to never do it again for fun, but this was a serious situation so don't be mad at me for that, okay?)! Moka was as shocked as she was when they saw my wings and me easily catching up, so I took advantage of that to shout at her about how she couldn't go around hurting other people just because things didn't go her way…and then I drop-kicked her all the way to the ground! She was fine, though, don't worry, monsters are way tougher than normal people, otherwise I wouldn't have tried that._

 _She finally seemed down from the count, so I relaxed…and didn't see that Moka was coming behind me when I closed my wings, so I knocked off her Rosario by mistake again (Note to self, put eyes on the back of wings). Inner Moka came out, and she was REALLY mad at Kurumu, like you wouldn't believe. She went so far as to grab her by the neck and telling her she was going to tear her head off! Of course, I stopped her. She may have tried to do something bad but that was no reason to do something so horrible. I forced Inner Moka to sit through one of my talks about how important and valuable life is…though she just screamed in a weird way that reminded me of Yui-chan halfway through it and put on her Rosario again. And you won't believe what happened the next day! I thought that had been the end of it, but then Kurumu showed up…acting all friendly and apologizing! She said something about me being that 'Destined One' she had been searching for all along and how she realized this after I saved her from Inner Moka, I really didn't totally understand her explanation (Succubus matters are strange, perhaps I should look later something about it on the library). The point is, that Magical Girls' anime I watched was right! You CAN make friends out of people that originally tried to kill you by beating them up! Who knew?_

 _The point is, Kurumu became our friend and everyone was released from her control, so we're all happy…though she and Moka still argue a bit from time to time, for some reason. Also, she clings to me all the time, but apparently it's okay because it's a succubus' greeting for their Destined Ones, or so she has told me, even if Moka seems annoyed when she does it…_

 _Oh, but it was 2 days ago when it was the scariest moment I can ever remember to have gone through. You see, we had to choose which School Club we were going to join, so we all decided to go search for one we all liked together, because you know, it's important for High School friends to stick together and I had no idea which club I would want to join (And there were a lot, let me tell you!). But while we were doing that, we stumbled upon…the school pool! Oh God, the horror…there were a bunch of girls in swimsuits inviting people to join and their captain tried to talk to us, but I was just too terrified staring at the water, so I excused myself and dragged Moka and Kurumu out of there. Then I obviously had to apologize and tell them about how I hated water and was horribly scared of it while also saying it was okay if they wanted to join the swimming club._

 _But it turns out they didn't want to! Moka revealed she didn't like water at all either (Another thing we have in common!) because it's like a deadly weakness for vampires and Kurumu said she didn't want to be in any club I wasn't. It was so touching it almost drove me to tears…I can't believe I made such good friends so fast…_

 _And that was when we heard the screams. We rushed back in shock to see the most horrifying thing ever: People in the pool were being attacked by the true forms of the Swimming Club girls…MERMAIDS! Yes, horrible, isn't it?! Actual creatures of nightmares…intelligent human-like beings that live on water! The horror!_

 _I…may have overreacted a little, I'm ashamed to admit. I think the captain, their leader, tried to tell us something about how they were draining everyone's life force, but I was too busy screaming and growing this weird tail-like thing that came to my mind out of nowhere and that could electrify things, then shot it on the water._

 _Yeah…not my best moment. Thankfully, everyone will recover, mermaids or otherwise, and things could be settled swiftly, but…yeah, I don't want to mention that again. Thankfully, Moka and Kurumu seem to agree with me on that…_

 _Anyway, the point is we were unable to find a club we wanted to join, but the Nekonome-sensei, my and Moka's homeroom teacher, suggest we joined hers, the Newspaper Club. Apparently, it was about to be shut down because no one else had joined, how sad is that? So now we're all part of the same club! Also, I have seen mom writing articles for her magazine a lot of times, so I think I may actually be somewhat good at this._

 _They had a lot of old cameras in the club's room, and also a couple of modern ones! It seems the only member besides us is a sempai we're meeting on Monday when we officially start our club activities, so I'm really looking forward to that! Oh, and we took the chance to take a picture of all 3 of us (Sensei was kind enough to do so) that I'm sending together with the letter, so you can see I'm doing great. Hopefully we will be able to actually talk more soon, either with a call or if I manage to get this place's Wi-Fi (Because there IS one! I don't know why it's not of public use or why almost no one seems to know it exists, but my phone detects it! It's called 'KishinBestOfTheDarkLords', for some reason)._

 _I'm really looking forward to the rest of my school year here!_

 _Kisses for you both, with love, Kazuto._

 _PS: Oh yeah, I almost forgot! All this stuff about monsters and the school is supposed to be a secret from the public, so don't tell anyone, okay?_

Just under those last words, a small picture had effectively been stuck to the letter. On it, a smiling Kazuto was shown in his new uniform inside a normal-looking classroom. He wasn't waving to the camera as he usually would, though, as his arms were currently pinned down by two beautiful girls, one of long pink hair and the other with light blue hair tied back with a purple maid headband, both easily identifiable as Moka and Kurumu if only because the latter was clinging a bit too close to the boy and all but sandwiching his arm with her breasts (Which Midori realized that, effectively, were as outrageously big as those of her daughter, perhaps a bit more, though given that the girl should barely be over a year older than Suguha that was not much to say).

Sighing as she saw the hands of her daughter trembling, as if she was about to tear the letter apart as her eyes seemed to burn into the picture, the woman tried to wrap her head around what she had just read.

Sadly, the possibility of it all being just one big prank wasn't even considered. Kazuto was barely able to keep 'secrets' for himself and was totally unable to outright lie, much less to them and in such detail. Not to mention that, despite his very active imagination, there was no way her adopted son could have made up such an outrageous tale by himself.

So…her alien experiment son had accidentally ended up going to a school of monsters, which happened to also be real, and was apparently fitting in like a glove. She didn't know if that was an irony of destiny or just Fate being determined to give her headaches. Still, it seemed that Kazuto was okay, happy and making new… _friends_ that would keep him company until he came back home. That was at least _something_ going right.

Now, they only needed to be very careful with this information and make sure to not tell anybody else, even Kazuto's other friends, about it. She obviously needed to tell Minetaka, but Midori wasn't sure how he would take…

The sound of paper being torn made the woman blink and look down once again, seeing how Suguha had seemingly snapped and accidentally torn part of the letter…which had made the picture fall down, revealing a last line of text that, apparently, had been accidentally 'hidden' under it.

 _PS2: And don't worry, I didn't want to bother you with telling everyone else so I sent more letters like this to Yuuna-chan and the rest, they should be getting theirs at the same time as you :)_

As if the Universe had been waiting for them to read those words, the house's phone and both hers and Suguha's own mobile ones started ringing at the same time. An idle look let her see the one calling her was Kayaba Akihiko, and if the look on her daughter's face was anything to go by then Shiori, Asuna, and Yuuna were probably calling her at the same time. She would bet anything in that the one calling their home was that Asada girl, more than likely excited about discovering that even more 'supernatural things' were actually real.

And then, someone knocked on the door. Almost automatically, the woman turned around, opening it to come face to face with a deadpanning Waryum, the Tryum holding a letter on his own in his hand.

"Please…somebody tell me this is a joke."

The woman took a long sip from her now cold coffee and turned around, seeing her nigh-hysterical daughter trying to calm down one of her friends through the phone.

"I wish."

Days like this made it very hard for Kirigaya Midori to remember how much she loved her adopted son…

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 **Author's Notes 2:** Yeah, mindfuck everywhere :P In Canon R+V Tsukune tried to do his damned best to not let his family know he was in a school of monsters. Lusus!Kirito is…well, you know him and his history with common sense. So, when told it has all to be kept a secret, he understands it so that he can tell everyone he cares about back home as long as they still keep it secret.

A part of me felt really tempted to write Kurumu's part as its own chapter, if only because she's my favorite R+V girl, but then I realized that in this version not only her chapter is way shorter than canon (Thanks to Kazuto's screwed up alien/human mind being unable to fall for her 'Charm' power) but also the only significant change was him being the one to actually kick her butt (And yes, he has learned the wonders of 'befriending' from watching a certain White Devil's show. Everyone at Youkai should be afraid). But don't worry, she will have her own chapter later to show the difference of she interacting with this crazy freak of nature and how both change each other XP

Hopefully you liked the condensed chapters in this format, I wanted to experiment a bit with the Omakes so I decided this would be a good way of summarizing several events of the manga while still giving it the 'feeling' of Lusus Naturae :P And you may have noticed there are some small changes to Youkai to make it 'fit' more with the setting of this crossover. After all, it's the year 2023 in here, so obviously some things would need to be made for everything to still work. Mikogami actually making a proper web page for the academy and they trying to work on the problems for calls from within the barrier (Something I never quite understood, as apparently you can't make one from Youkai except for the phones in the lobby, but Mizore's mother is later seen using a mobile in their village which supposedly has a barrier like the one at the school). And yes, he put Wi-Fi, though right now the students can't exactly access it…and only those who have read the manga will understand the why of its name XD

Next time, a certain werewolf bites way more than he can chew while our little freak keeps enjoying his high school life…

Until then, this is Saint, signing off!


	9. Chapter 7: What Should (NOT) be Fixed

Okay, everyone, calm down, there is a good excuse for me writing this yet again this time!

Finals.

Yeah, that. I'm in the middle of my finals and I'm being drowned in them. I tried to keep writing RU but with all the studying it was impossible for me to concentrate on it properly…

This story, on the other hand, essentially lets me turn off my brain and just let madness and weirdness write on auto-pilot for me. And somehow, everyone stills likes it enough for it to have already reached over 180 reviews and over 200 favorites and followers. Woah.

Also, wanted to make a pause to say with happiness that someone added both this story and Requiem Universus to the 'Recommended SAO Fanfics' page of TvTropes :3 Thanks a lot to the good friend who did it (You know who you are :D), let's see if they ever become popular enough to get their own pages like OPG did back in the day :P!

Well, without more delay, I will just let you all with this. enjoy yet another chapter of the weirdest Kirito out there!

 **PS:** This story now has a Beta! Thanks a lot to good CrayZay Jay for Betaing this chapter :3

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

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Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

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 **Chapter 7: That Which Should(NOT) be Fixed…**

 **August 24th, 2023. Floor 47, Aincrad. Hill of Memories, 13:10…**

Asuna really wanted to get along with the so-called 'Sleeping Knights'. She really did. After all, few people she had met (At least before starting to play SAO and meeting again with Kazuto, plus her new friends) were as outgoing and friendly as them.

Merida was a bright and outgoing girl, with an attitude that said she would do her best do everything she set herself to do. The twins, Ran and Yuuki, were quite similar to her, though the former was far more determined in her way of talking and the latter was a bit on the shy side. Siune seemed like the 'mother' of the group, the young woman apparently being the voice of reason among the rest of the younger members of the guild, while Nori seemed to be all fun and games. On the boy's side of the knights, Clovis was the unusually cold-silent type where Jun was the over-excitable one, Talken the typically shy and bookish-looking person, and Tecchi the one with the boisterous laughter. All in all, they were a very diverse group, a bit strange, yeah, but still very likable. The chestnut-haired girl could see herself becoming quite good friends with her under any other circumstance.

Right now, though, she was trying very hard to keep smiling and not try and vaporize them all with a glare, and the unusual guild seemed to have noticed it too, as they were nervously standing quite a few meters away from her and sending her nervous looks (Yuuki even 'subtly' hiding behind her sister and Jun doing the same with Tecchi) while they watched their leader/friend stand at the ready atop the hill, a grinning Kirito near her.

So close! She had been so close to getting her first kiss, with the boy she (Not so) secretly liked, and those…those…innocent and well-intention players had totally ruined it! Aaggrh! Dammit! Asuna couldn't even get mad at them without feeling guilty, and that only made her mood get even worse. Why couldn't it have been those bastards of Laughing Coffin?! She would have no problems going berserk on them for having done this!

Ignorant of the potential 'danger' he had unknowingly put the Sleeping Knights on, Kirito accepted the Duel Request with a determined face as Merida, who was equally ignorant of the potential 'danger' her guildmates were in, readied her own blade with a challenging look.

"A scimitar?" curiously asked the black-haired boy upon looking at the curved blade.

"Yeah, I know it's not the most popular weapon, but what can I say, it has grown on me." grinned the green-haired girl while putting her weapon's flat side before her face. "Are you ready for it, Kirito-san?"

"Well, you should probably define what you mean by 'ready' in the…"

Releasing a loud battle cry without warning as soon as the Duel's Countdown reached 0, Merida jumped and charged through the air like a missile towards the still talking Kirito.

Quite literally, the girl shot through the air in a brutal jump that had the edge of her weapon glowing and aiming directly to his head, all of it courtesy of the Sword Skill 'Fell Crescent'.

The reason why the Scimitar was the less popular of SAO main weapons was because of this. All of its Skill Tree consisted in fast yet simple strikes that made one 'jump around' a lot, way more than any other Sword Skills. Not to mention that, while quite versatile especially against big targets or groups, it made very difficult to switch from Skill to actual fighting without losing balance or control, and also made a player kind of a glass cannon, because while some of the Skills were devastating, the damage of the weapon itself wasn't all that great compared to most One-Handed Swords, and the equipment to go well with it had low Def.

Because of this, almost everyone that used the weapon did it only as an intermediary step to unlock the 'Katana' Extra Skill, and those who stuck with it weren't really anything remotely close to Front Liners.

The second he parried the Skill with his blade at the same time he moved his body to the side and let Merida fly past him, sparks exploding from where their blades crashed, Kirito realized the girl before him wasn't like that at all. The way in which she, just as he was about to slash her neck during her post-Skill cooldown time, JUMPED almost 3 meters, doing a perfect backflip over him, showed this clearly. The gamer's smile grew slightly.

"Kuh…not bad, Kirito-san!" shouted Merida while shooting back at him, her scimitar doing quick and sharp attacks towards the boy's body, never directly engaging him and as such not being forced to face his superior STR Stat. "But I'm NOT going to lose!"

"You have Maxed Acrobatics, uh? Also put a lot of points on your AGI…" commented Kirito when his attempt of a 'Horizontal' Skill was dodged by another masterful jump. "Amazing…you may be the first SAO Player I see with a fully-committed Scimitar-DPS built!"

"Heh, thanks, but flattery won't make me go any easier on you!" replied the grinning Guild Leader as she landed and _spun_ , her glowing blade becoming a whirlwind of death.

At first sight, there was nothing too special about the Sword Skill 'Dancing Hellraiser', despite its fancy name. Mid-low level, few hits, it made you lose sight of the target and, if you weren't properly used to the spinning motion, it made even disorient you in the middle of the fight, which could spell doom for you. This Skill, however, had a particularity that, when combined with the short Cooldown Time Scimitar Skills had compared with other Skill Trees, made it truly fearsome.

It had 'Ignore Defense' among its traits. Meaning, it completely nullified the account of the DEF Stat on any enemy within the game, from the weakest ones to even Bosses, allowing it to cause a brutal amount of damage to anything caught within its 'spinning' radius.

Of course, the countless drawbacks that came with this, combined with how contradictory it was for such a Skill, which favored STR, to exist within a Skill Tree that needed an AGI-based built to not get you killed, not to mention the fact that all of this was in VR, made it so that no known Players seriously employed it.

Except, apparently…

 _"Argo-sensei omitted mentioning you…"_ thought Kirito with a MASSIVE grin as the first 2 slashes of the scimitar cut through his body, his HP plummeting down into the red as his gaze and that of the spinning girl crossed.

Her confident eyes hesitated upon seeing his unnatural smile.

Then, his hand flew to the side even as he jumped back, dodging the last 2 hits of the scimitar and operating his menu at the same time.

Everyone watching _gaped_ in utter shock at the seemingly impossible action, even more so when a second sword materialized on the Smiling Swordsman's hand just as he was about to hit the ground and he simply landed on his feet.

"Holy shit!"

"So fast…I didn't think there was anyone as fast as Yuu…!"

"Shhh! Siune, don't say that aloud!"

"Wa-wait, doesn't equipping 2 weapons severely cripple you in this game…?!"

Asuna was just marginally aware of what the Sleeping Knights were saying, for her eyes were glued at the suddenly glowing blades of the boy whose life she saved long ago, even as he shot forward like a missile towards the stunned Merida, his smile almost seeming to split his face.

"What the…?!"

"I won't hold back anymore in respect, Merida-san!" screamed Kirito with utter joy as his swords seemed to _burst_ with power. "STARBURST STREAM!"

Despite having already been told of it, this was the first time the rapier-user got to see the gamer's famous 'Dual Blades' in action firsthand.

She also learned, while hearing the terrified screams of the twins calling for their best friend in the background and the rest of the guild shouting in shock, that he REALLY didn't properly grasp the concept of 'Overkill' sometimes, as every single one of the 16 Hits (Each of which was more than enough to destroy over 90% of Merida's HP), obliterated the young girl's body in 5 seconds, the loud hum of the Skill finishing as he stopped and turned around with a single motion, somehow managing to get stuck in cooldown while giving his back to the exploding avatar of his rival, the ' **WINNER!** ' screen appearing over him with the cheerful music seeming extremely out of place for the brutalization he had just executed.

Then, he jumped and whooped in joy while waving his blades, even as the stunned Sleeping Knights were still STARING.

"…oh heavens, Kirito-kun…" muttered Asuna while trying to not facepalm.

"Yahooo, that was amazing! It's my win, though, better luck next time, Meri…oh, wait, she can't hear me." stopped himself the swordsman while staring to where the girl had been, scratching the back of his head and sticking out his tongue in embarrassment. "Sorry, I forgot about that…"

"Yo-you…you bully!" shouted the youngest member of the guild, the short-haired twin Asuna recalled as Yuuki, before rushing away from her sister and friends, unsheathing her sword towards the surprised Kirito. "This is for Merida!"

With that declaration, the girl MOVED, her blade almost seeming to cut through the virtual air with a precision and speed beyond understanding, even the wide-eyed Asuna being unable to trail the weapon's path…

"Hey, if you attack me like this your cursor will become Orange, you know?"

…and the shocked Yuuki could only gasp as her sword hit nothing but air, the black-haired boy now standing behind her, with his back turned towards hers, nothing but a curious expression on his face as he gazed towards her guildmates, both his blades sheathed on his back.

Even so, the young girl just knew that, if he had so wanted it, he could have cut her down in that short exchange.

 _"I…I didn't see him move?!"_

 _"N-no way…how can there be someone who reacts faster than Yuu?!"_ mentally shouted the girl's twin, looking in shock as Kirito turned around and put a hand over Yuuki's sword arm.

"I and Merida-san were just having a fight for fun. There is no need to get angry over the result." sincerely spoke the swordsman while making the frozen girl lower her weapon. "At the end of the day, this is just a game, remember? I wasn't really trying to hurt her, nor was she trying to hurt me…"

"I…that's…" muttered the youngest of the Sleeping Knights with confusion, wondering why the boy's gaze put her so on edge, before a familiar voice was heard once again.

"Daaaammiiiit!" shouted Merida while rushing into the Hill's area, looking out of (Virtual) breath as she did so. "So-sorry, had to use a teleport Crystal after resurrecting or I would have had to walk all the way from Floria…but anyway, I'm ba…did something happen?" clearly confused, the guild leader stared from the frozen onlookers to the pair standing where she had lost the duel. "Yuuki, what are you doing there?"

"Ah…I…"

"She just wanted to avenge your defeat, I guess." awkwardly explained Kirito while waving her way, Yuuki looking down with an embarrassed blush before rushing back to her approaching friends, quickly 'hiding' behind her sister, who just sighed and started to soothe her. "Great fight, by the way! You were amazing with your jumps and your control of the scimitar!"

"Says the guy who apparently has a never-seen Skill to use two swords and deal brutal damage with every hit…" bitterly chuckled Merida before quickly shaking her head and, a bit reluctantly, raising her hand towards the blinking swordsman. "Good duel. I'm really bitter about losing, but…I don't think I could have asked for a better opponent to measure against. It shows just how much further I have to go yet…"

"…heh, don't worry, Merida-san, I'm sure you will become even better than me in no time!" praised Kirito while shaking her hand. "We have all the time in the world to look forward to that, right?"

The moment he said those words, both him and Asuna felt it. A subtle change, an almost imperceptible warp in the atmosphere, in the mood surrounding them.

For a fraction of a second, the swordsman felt the girl whose hand he was shaking stiffen, her gaze freezing and a deep and dark sadness rush through her eyes. At the same time, the rapier-user felt the 'aura' of the Sleeping Knights near her darken in the same sad, depressing way…

But as soon as it had come, it was gone; Merida's smile brightening as she enthusiastically shook the swordsman's hand back.

"Yeah, you're right about that! Let us all keep doing our best! Right, everyone?!"

"Ye-yeah, you said it!"

"Sigh, Merida always makes everything troublesome…"

"Don't be a party-pooper, Clovis! She makes everything awesome!"

"I think that depends on your definition of 'awesome'…"

"Siune, don't be mean!"

"Well, Yuu, she kind of has a point…"

"Nee-chan?!"

"N-no way, Ran, even you betray me…?!"

Among the laughter and the small talk, Asuna quickly forgot about the strange moment of before and smiled softly, starting to chat and befriend the weird but lively group, even as she dragged Kirito to do the same.

The Smiling Swordsman, however, despite his smile never vanishing, frowned slightly, wondering why that nagging feeling on the back of his mind wouldn't disappear as he stared at the gathered guild.

Not much time later, the entire group was sitting in one of Floria's Inns, enjoying a small banquet of food typical of the Floor to celebrate 'meeting new friends', as the black-haired boy of the two swords had put it. The Sleeping Knights had readily agreed to his generous offer, some maybe too eager when he said he was paying for it all, Siune's concerns about it being too much not really fazing him as he had the Col to spare. Asuna could honestly attest to that.

It was as he was happily munching on some sort of flower-shaped ice-cream, though, that someone from around the buzzy table tugged on his sleeves, making him blink and turn to look towards the long-haired twin.

"Hey…Kirito-san…can I ask something?" questioned Ran with a low tone, as if to not let others hear, though failing when Yuuki turned to look at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmm? Oh, sure, ask away, Ran-chan!"

"…Merida already told us a bit about you before today, and then we got to see your duel, but…why exactly do you fight like that? What do you fight for?"

There was a moment of silence in which Kirito stared at the girl with suddenly neutral eyes, as if he was musing something over while simply observing her face and judging her words, making her start feeling quite nervous and her sister to bite her lip…

"Because it's fun."

…only to smile brightly and answer with that, flooring both twins with his response.

"Because…it's fun?"

"Oh, don't take it the wrong way, though. It's not that I get a kick out of hurting others in battle, that's PoH-san and his group's thing, not mine." clarified the black-haired boy with a thoughtful look. "What I mean is, at the end of the day, this is a game, remember? But, at the same time, it's like a completely different world, where anyone and everyone can be as amazing as they imagine if they put enough effort into it! That's why I love Aincrad, SAO, so much: Even the most normal person has potential to surpass their limits…and no one needs to get hurt while doing so…"

For some reason, both twins felt there was something more to his last words, as if he was thinking about something that 'could' have happened with a strangely nostalgic smile.

"That's…quite an interesting way of thinking…" mused the oldest of the twins with a complicated expression while looking down at the dessert in her hands, her little sister giving her a concerned look.

"Yeah. And besides…don't you think there are some things that you can only convey to others by fighting?" asked Kirito with an excited smile, making both sisters look at him with surprise. "After all, in this world when you don't risk hurting others and you can face your friends or strangers head on…sometimes, you can prove how actions say more than words ever can!"

Unaware of how Yuuki and Aiko were looking in awe at his declaration, as if deeply thinking about it, the black-haired gamer went back to his ice cream with a content expression, even as they exchanged looks and then looked towards Merida with soft smiles.

After all, there was no way for him to know that, in a different world, in a different Universe, those same words would have marked what remained of their and most of their friends' short lives…

* * *

 _"I don't fight for good, and I don't fight for evil! I JUST FIGHT!"_ – Augus of the Seven Deities (The most badass blind swordsman ever).

* * *

As she finished making breakfast, idly filling a small bowl beside the window with bird's food for Kage-chan's family, Kirigaya Suguha couldn't help but frown as the 'irritating feeling' that had been bothering her lately refused to go away.

Namely, she had been having it since the night Kazuto gave everyone that 'scare' when he fell unconscious while doing that crazy flying thing with Yuuna. To be precise, it just increased every time she saw the older girl lately, especially that silly and dreamy smile the older girl seemed to have on most of the time now. Not to mention how it turned subtly smug when she saw the young kendoka looking.

It both annoyed and terrified a part of the girl's mind, for reasons she couldn't properly explain. Like something was telling her that knowing what her brother's closest 'friend' was so happy about would devastate her, but at the same time that not knowing it was going to drive her mad.

She was so lost in her conflicting thoughts that she almost missed Kazuto coming down and sitting on the table. Almost, because, despite the boy never making any noise or anything to give away his presence when he moved inside the house, she always knew when he was close to her, and as such she didn't miss a beat when turning around and putting the recently made two bowls of miso soup before her adopted brother with a smile.

"There you go, Onii-chan!" happily declared Suguha while turning to get her own bowl. "Hope you enjoy it!"

"Sugu's breakfasts are something I will enjoy forever!" was the boy's happy reply while digging into his food, making his adoptive sister's cheeks turn a rosy color as she felt happiness filling her at the praise. "Nom…oh, Asuna and I made some new friends yesterday!"

"…really? New friends?" sighed the young kendoka while trying very hard to not pinch the bridge of her nose. "And were they cute girls?"

"Eh? Well, half of them were, but the rest were boys…" commented the clearly confused gamer, not noticing how his sister's head snapped his way with utter shock and something akin to hope in her gaze. "Also, now that I think about it, unless their avatars were very heavily modified, I'm pretty sure Siune-san and Tecchi-san are too old to be called 'girl' or 'boy' at all…"

"You mean you finally made male friends for a change?! A-and 'normal' female friends?!" asked Suguha with a clearly joyful tone. "Really?!"

"Uhm…yes? Though I'm not sure what you mean by 'normal', in fact I could say their guild is a bit…odd." whispered Kazuto with a small frown at remembering the strange 'sensation' that washed over him from them all when he mentioned those words to Merida. "…oh, that reminds me, with all of that I totally forgot to finish asking Asuna what I wanted to! Damn!"

"You wanted to ask Asuna-san something?" questioned Suguha with interest while calmly eating her own breakfast at the thought of her brother's social life becoming more 'normal'. "What was it?"

"...Ah, of course, why didn't I think so earlier?! I could ask you too!" realized the boy before looking directly at the now curious young kendoka. "Sugu, have you ever kissed someone?"

Up to that point, the youngest Kirigaya had thought that extreme spit-takes were a thing that only happened in manga/anime.

The way in which she all but shot the soup she had been swallowing from her mouth, though, proved otherwise, the blinking gamer just making a tentacle quickly shoot from his forearm to catch all the liquid and bits of vegetables on the air and 'swallow' it through a strangely placed mouth, not wanting it to go to waste, even as his gaze turned concerned at the sight of his coughing sister.

"Wha…guh…eh?!"

"Sugu, you okay?!" worriedly questioned Kazuto as he saw Suguha quickly swallow half a glass of water in one go. "I didn't mean to make you choke on your food, sorry!"

"Wa-wait…! Yo-you were going to ask Asuna-san about kisses?!" all but screamed the young kendoka after putting the glass down, trying to think over the implications even as the black tendril sank back into the boy's body. "A-and, n-no, I haven't kissed anyone before, but why would you…?!"

"Then, can I kiss you, Sugu?" continued the gamer without hesitation, making his adoptive sister freeze in place as if someone had just stopped time for her. "I'm trying to understand all the things a kiss can mean firsthand and…"

"Okay." answered the girl before seemingly teleporting besides the surprised Kazuto, her eyes slightly shaking and her face scarlet.

"Really? Thanks, Sugu!" He happily declared while standing up, Suguha wondering if she was dreaming as he softly cupped her chin and, slowly, drew his face close to hers, a blush slowly appearing on his own cheeks without him noticing. "Now…just let me…"

"Onii…Kazuto…" whispered the young kendoka before swiftly closing the remaining distance between them and catching his lips with hers, as if fearing something would interrupt them if she didn't do so.

Once again, she had thought that it was just an exaggeration of fiction, one she wasn't as particularly fond of as most girls her age were, how a kiss was supposed to feel, the first one with the one you liked especially. Being realistic, she had been expecting happiness and euphoria, and not much more.

No one had told her about the tingling feeling rushing from the point where their lips joined and filling her whole body with a warmth that threatened to consume her, nor the feeling of her whole being wanting to embrace the boy and never let go…

Then, the gamer unconsciously embraced her and deepened the kiss, making her moan as their tongues touched without them meaning to.

That was apparently too much for Suguha, whose legs suddenly gave out under her, breaking Kazuto out of his own 'trance' as he felt her fall backwards and away from him, squeaking as he took advantage of how his arms were wrapped around her waist (And when had hers gotten around his neck?) to stop her from falling, a panicked look in his flushed face.

"Su-Sugu…are you…a-are you okay?!" finally asked the boy once he recovered his breath, wondering why he felt as if his heart was about to burst.

"…fine…I'm fine…" weakly muttered the young kendoka with unfocused eyes, apparently trying to recover her breath too, her eyes slowly moving towards the worried face of her adoptive brother and letting a smile appear on her scarlet face. "Di-did that help you out…Onii-chan?"

"Ah…yes, I think so…" muttered Kazuto as he all but carried the girl towards the living room's couch, she seeming more than happy of being in his arms and not resisting at all. "It was…definitively different, yet the sensation was the same…hmm…maybe I need to ask for someone else's perspective?"

"Hmm? What…?" questioned Suguha while shaking her head, her thoughts apparently not having finished of putting themselves together and the happy/excited squeaking inside her brain at what just had happened still not stopping.

"Sugu, I'm going out, okay? I will be back soon, don't worry!" spoke the boy with conviction before heading to the door, just to stop after taking some steps and give a worried look towards his still unmoving sister, wondering why his face still felt so hot. "Do you need me to get you anything before?"

"Ah…no, it's okay…I'm better than ever…" mumbled the young kendoka with a small smile, making her adopted brother smile in return before he rushed out of the house at fast as he could, determined to get back quickly. "…did that really just happen…?"

After several seconds of silence, the youngest Kirigaya allowed herself to giggle without control as she hugged one of the couch's cushions against her chest, feeling giddy at the reality of it all. Yeah, maybe the boy hadn't fully understood the meaning of the action, but she had more than enough time to make him do so now, as his reaction showed CLEARLY that he had enjoyed it too. Heh, she could just imagine what face Yuuna would make when she saw her own happy and bliss-filled smile, just like…the one the songstress had…been having lately…

Slowly, gears turned inside Suguha's head as her happiness-ride came to a screeching halt. Suddenly, Kazuto's very specific words from before, his apparent 'confusion' and wanting to know 'the meaning of a kiss' mixing with the strange feeling she had been getting from Yuuna since the day of the flying incident…

Stopping just as she was about to finish her morning singing practice, Shigemura Yuuna wondered why she felt both a shiver and the strange need to punch her best friend/singing rival/crush in the face.

Barely 20 minutes after that, though, Kayaba Akihiko entered his lab with a cup of hot coffee, sat down before his main computer and absentmindedly grabbed a wrapped up chocolate tablet from his first drawer, throwing it in the direction of the humming Kirigaya Kazuto.

"Morning, Kirito." greeted the man without reacting at all, having long since become desensitized to his 'friend's random intruding of his lab.

"Ah, thanks, Kayaba!" happily replied the black-haired boy while all but inhaling the delicious treat, his eyes sparkling at the sweet and delicate flavor. "Waah…this tastes awesome!"

"It's from Switzerland." explained the father of modern VR as if that explained everything, and the gamer's understanding nod while he kept going over his documents revealed it apparently did. "I was thinking about maybe going there for New Year, to relax a bit…"

"Oh…are you taking Rinko-san with you?" there was no direct answer from Kayaba, but the way in which his hands stopped typing for a moment and the corner of his lips subtly curved upwards was more than enough answer for the smiling Kazuto. "Thought so."

"Sigh, why are you here for, Kirito?" asked the man while closing his eyes, calmly ignoring and deleting the latest dozen complaints (AKA pleas) of the MHCP-001 to not be assigned again to monitor the player behind him. "I doubt you came just to ask about my romantic life or say hello…"

"Actually…you're slightly wrong about that…" muttered the black-haired boy, causing the scientist's eyes to snap open as his gaze snapped towards him. "I actually wanted to ask, uhm…you and Rinko-san have kissed, right?"

"Ehm…wh-why are you even asking about that, Kazuto?" questioned the suddenly very nervous Kayaba, having an ominous feeling on the back of his mind, so much he even used the gamer's real name for a change. "That's kind of a personal question to make without moti…"

"It's just that, I'm trying to fully understand the meaning of a kiss." explained Kazuto while tilting his head, idly biting another piece off his chocolate with a suddenly troubled expression, so out of place in his usually smiling face that it sent shivers down the man's back, remembering the last time he had seen him **not smiling**. "I know it's a gesture of affection…I know it can make you feel very special, but…I can't properly understand what I'm feeling when I do kiss someone. It's…strange, I feel as if I want more, to embrace them and don't ever let them go away…and that's not exactly normal, right? That's why I'm asking. I mean, I would have asked dad, but he's always so busy with his work in America that I didn't want to be a bother by calling him at an awkward time or…"

"Kirito…please, let me see if I get this straight…" muttered the creator of SAO while feeling something between the mother of all headaches and the ultimate panic attack forming in the back of his mind. "You have…kissed someone? And…more than one person after that, to try and 'understand' what you felt?"

"Uhm, yeah…tha-that day I had the accident when I tried to fly, Yuuna-chan kissed me." revealed the black-haired boy while finishing his chocolate, not noticing how Kayaba had gone pale as a ghost. "And yesterday, before we met the Sleeping Knights, I tried to ask Asuna for help, but we were interrupted before we could kiss, though I felt my heart going all fast and felt myself all tingly despite being inside the virtual world. Then, I asked Sugu for a kiss a bit earlier and when we kissed…it felt kind of like with Yuuna-chan, but different. I also loved it a lot, and I also felt that same sensation of not wanting to ever let her go, but, at the same time, it felt special in her own way and…I don't know; that's why I'm so confused, so I thought maybe coming to talk with you would help me out…"

"Let…let me get this straight…you have kissed both Yuuna and your adoptive sister…and almost did the same with Asuna…is that right?" asked the scientist with a broken voice, trying to force himself to remember the nodding gamer before him was actually an emotionally unstable alien abomination, and as such didn't seem to fully realize the scope of what he had unknowingly done…or the terrifying implications that he had felt the same towards all 3 girls. "Oh God…well, Kazuto, you see, this…wait a minute, the Sleeping Knights? As in, the guild the Konno twins are part of?"

Apparently, Kayaba wasn't the only one stunned out of the terrifying/painful train of thought, because Kazuto blinked in confusion and shock, his gaze shooting straight towards the suddenly wide-eyed man.

"Why do you personally know the family name of Yuuki-chan and Ran-chan?"

"I…tha-that's not important right now, it's what you did! Yo-you can't just go kissing your friends because…!" the sudden sound of his phone ringing interrupted the man, making his gaze shoot towards it and curse as he grabbed it and stood up, sending a serious/nervous look towards the unblinking boy, who was still staring fixedly at him. "They need me down in development for…ju-just stay here, okay?"

As soon as he said that, Argus' most brilliant mind rushed out of his lab, having more than one reason to get back very fast.

The moment he was out, though, Kazuto all but jumped towards the seat he had vacated, his hands all but flying over the keyboard as he hacked into Kayaba's files, a frown upon his normally smiling face as he realized how slow it was compared with before, the months without directly watching the man working continuously, making noticeable how he had continued evolving those skills while the gamer had not.

Even so, he persevered, the strange feeling he had the other day when he shook Merida's hand back in full force and having pushed his own emotional confusion to the back of his mind.

Kayaba Akihiko was a very important person, worldwide. Despite him being 'friends' with the man, this was something that the inhuman boy understood perfectly. Because of how close they were, and how much time he dedicated to Sword Art Online, it wasn't strange he knew about he and his friends, or about any other outstanding guild or player within the game…

But the Sleeping Knights weren't like that at all. He was friends with the best info broker in Aincrad and she had never mentioned any of them sans Merida before and that only because she had been a former acquaintance of the Beta.

Why, then, did the game's creator and one of the most famous people in the modern scientific world knew not only of them but specifically of the 2 twins in their group? By their real name, no less, which he himself hadn't even know?

After several seconds searching through his personal database for 'Konno', 'Twins', 'Ran' and 'Yuuki', he finally found something that…he wasn't expecting.

"Medi…cuboid…?"

A new type of FullDive machine, radically different. An advanced, more 'extreme' version of the originally deadly Nerve Gear model, meant to isolate the user's consciousness from the body to an almost total degree. Basically allowing the player an almost complete disconnection from their physical body…no. Not 'player'. 'Patient'.

It was a machine meant for medical care. Specifically, 'to improve the quality of life and help treat terminally ill patients'.

"Terminally…ill…?"

The prototype was currently being tested in a hospital of Yokohama, under very specific agreements and circumstances. With the full consent of the user…after her twin rejected its use in favor of her little sister, who was now kept within a fully sealed and sterilized chamber…both for the sake of the delicate machine and herself…

Konno Yuuki. Currently suffering from AIDS, just like her twin sister, Konno Aiko, because of an accident during their birth that had infected the whole Konno family. Their parents had passed away because of this not long ago.

Both of them registered as 'Yuuki' and 'Ran' within Sword Art Online.

Kayaba knew their names and had their data firsthand because he was the one that had given the base for the machine's creation to the hospital and authorized its testing.

'Sleeping Knights'…almost numbly, a cold and unknown sensation filling his heart, Kazuto's hands once again moved madly over the keyboard, hacking external databases being surprisingly easy compared to Kayaba Akihiko's personal one.

The whole guild met each other in…Serene Garden. A 'virtual hospice' created mere months ago, especially dedicated to providing a calm and enjoyable environment for people whose health problems impeded them from directly interacting with the outside world.

Finally identifying part of what he was feeling as fear, the black-haired alien experiment kept going. Hacking Serene Garden's system was laughably easy in comparison to the impossibility that was doing so to SAO's, as they didn't have the Cardinal System backing them up.

The rest wasn't difficult. None of them had thought of changing the name of their avatars from there to SAO, after all. A terror he hadn't known he could feel filled him as his eyes settled over the firsts entries.

Merida. Yamada Akane. Cancer. A malignant tumor had been found in her _brain_ , and it had already partially made her lose the use of her legs. The medics weren't sure if she would live more than another year.

Siune. An Si-eun. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Recently suffered a relapse after seemingly having recovered. Her status was uncertain.

Konno Aiko. AIDS. No direct or worrying reactions as of yet except the delicate state of her body, slowly worsening each month. Compared with her sister's especially complex isolation, which she had given up in favor of her dear twin, her survival rate for the next years was inferior to…

All the way to the 3rd Basement, where the servers of Sword Art Online were, Kayaba Akihiko was able to hear the frustrated and pained roar, which made him and the few personnel in the area to freeze in shock, more than one breaking into a panic and wondering if they should sound the alarm because 'a dangerous animal may be on the loose'.

Not even 2 minutes later, the breathless man was back in his lab, seeing his computer's chair broken and slammed in the middle of the floor, the duct vent open and its cover forgotten on the ground.

The moment he saw the files that were still on the screen, he knew that he may have accidentally made a great mistake…

* * *

 _"The road to hell is paved with good intention. The road out of it is carved by furious claws."_ – Anonymous (I don't think this one needs much explanation, right?).

* * *

Feeling tired but happy, Yamada Akane took off her Nerve Gear, idly thinking back at the time of SAO's Beta Test. The good, happy times, when she had not a care in the world except having fun with everyone else there, and exploring that amazing world ruled by swords.

And then, a short time after the Beta ended, they had found that tumor in her brain.

Everything had just gone downhill from there. Her parents' worry and fear, her own terror and sadness as she slowly realized her life was crumbling down around her…

Being honest, she was sure that, without the marvel that was FullDive technology, she would have broken down very soon. After all, being barely over 14 years old and knowing that you were going to die, no matter how much the doctors or your parents told you otherwise, was way too much for anyone to take lying down, especially when you were permanently hospitalized and could only move around with a wheelchair, more often than not needing someone to push it.

But thanks to Kayaba Akihiko's glorious invention, which low-frequency microwaves thankfully didn't present a risk to the horrible thing in her brain, she could still 'enjoy life' and more.

Within the virtual world, she could still run around and laugh, interact with other people, eat all the delicious food she wanted…and she could move faster than she would have ever imagined, swing a blade to beat monsters and go through mystical forests, dangerous mountains and ancient deserts, face terrifying creatures without fear and emerge victorious.

She had also met her new friends…her dear guild. Those who, sadly, shared the same tragic destiny at her in one way or another. She had thought she had it bad, but after meeting the Konno twins in Serene Garden, she had realized some people out there were in a way worst situation.

And so, she had decided to become their guiding light. She had shown them SAO, she had convinced them to see the wonders of Aincrad, and both girls had fallen in love with the Floating Castle and everything within as fast as she originally had. Yuuki's insane reaction time had made it so that leveling up wasn't only fun, but also surprisingly easy for them.

Soon, they had met their other friends in Serene Garden, extending the same 'invitation' towards them. And one by one, they had all joined their strange 'family' (For what else could they be called but that?) and their odyssey in that marvelous Floating Castle, where new challenges and adventures awaited almost every day.

There, they weren't just a random group of sick people that bonded together through virtual reality. They were the Sleeping Knights, warriors and adventurers, ready to face any challenge.

It was just too sad that, at the end of the day, the young girl had to stop being Merida, master of the scimitar, and return to being Akane, the sick girl. With melancholy, she passed a hand over her bald head, her hair gone since she had started taking the anticancer drugs, then another over her barely functional legs under her hospital gown. Already, she missed the feelings of Merida's bright green hair and her Acrobatics-maxed body, able to soar through the battlefield while swinging her blade without ever slowing down…

Sighing at her depressing reality, Akane forced herself not to sob once again, reminding herself that she had to be strong. For herself, for her parents, for her friends…until the last day, she would keep going with a smile, enjoying life as she went. To make sure her friends could keep on smiling when she was gone.

That was all that Merida could do, having taken inspiration from that other, ever-smiling swordsman. And that was exactly what Akane would keep doing, no matter what.

Having finally calmed down, any need to cry gone, the sick girl once again let her body sink on her bed, wondering if dinner would be soon, as (Sadly) VR didn't really make you any less hungry despite giving the false sense of 'fulfillment', as this quickly faded after a while, and with her room's window wide open she could really use something warm to…

Her train of thought came to a screeching halt as that last thought ran through her head again. Her room's window was never wide open during the night. It even had special bolts to secure it, the nurses making sure to only open it halfway during certain periods of the day so as to keep it well-aired, so how had it…?

"Merida-san." a strangely empty, yet still worried voice echoed into the darkness.

Akane barely managed to reduce her frightened scream into a surprised squeak, her eyes darting through her darkened hospital room as they zeroed in a shadow standing close to the open window, the lack of moonlight because of the New Moon making it difficult to properly identify him.

She recognized that voice, however. Not only because of how strange its owner was, but also because she had fought him just yesterday.

"Ki…Kirito-san…?!" shouted the shocked girl while squinting her eyes, a mix of fear, panic and slight indignation mixing inside of her. "Wha-what are you…?! Ho-how did you find…?! Why…?!"

The young Beta Tester wasn't sure what she should feel in that moment: Of panic at someone she didn't really trust had found out her 'secret', of shame at having someone that was little more than an acquaintance seeing her current state or just fear at the implications of that same someone having not only FOUND her but also gotten into her room apparently undetected…

Anything she had been thinking, though, died in her throat when she saw the one she knew as 'Kirito' within SAO step out of the shadows. It wasn't just the shock of seeing that, apparently, he had been indeed using his real appearance within the game, that of a slightly effeminate boy maybe a couple years older than her, but also because of his eyes.

They were full of concern…and seemed like red slits over a yellow-golden sclera filled with pulsating black veins.

"You're sick." softly whispered the inhuman boy while looking at her with sadness. "You're going to die. There is nothing on this planet that can save you from that tumor in your brain."

"…yes…you're right." softly muttered the young girl while looking down, before tightly grasping the edge of her sheets and looking back at the now silent gamer with determined eyes. "But that doesn't matter to me! I don't want pity…and I won't fall down and cry because of it! I will make sure that…my friends can keep smiling even when I'm no longer…!"

"I have a dream, you know?" interrupted the one she knew as 'Kirito' while taking another step towards her bed, putting her on edge for some strange reason. "It's childish…and it sounds selfish, I know it well, but…I still have it. I want a world where everyone I care for can always smile." as he said that, the boy smiled, the expression seeming natural in his face. "And your words make me see you want the same."

For some reason, though, Akane found herself unnerved by his smile. She had noticed it before in SAO, like everyone during the Beta, but she had also assumed that it was either because the boy was a kid that had gotten lucky to be in there or that he just enjoyed himself way too much.

Now, though, seeing it on a real person instead of an avatar, and with those sinisterly inhuman eyes, she realized that it was as if smiling was the natural state of his face, instead of the neutral curiosity it was for most humans. Which was disturbing in more ways than one, because…

"Wha-what are you…doing here…Kirito-san…?" gulped the sick girl while wondering if she could scream loud enough for someone to come to help her in time.

"I want to save you." spoke the boy with a strangely low voice, making Akane's eyes widen as he looked down at her having moved to stand just beside her bed. "I said that nothing on this planet could save you, but…I'm different. I'm not from here. I'm…an alien, or a weird thing, you could say, and I think I can help you…"

"An…alien? A thing?" normally, the sick girl would have thought her fellow Beta Tester was just making a very bad joke, and that he was probably unhinged in some way, but the inhuman eyes combined with the ominous feeling that was making her body scream to run away gave the crazy declaration some credibility in her mind. "And…you can somehow _cure me_ …?"

"I think, at least. I mean, I have healed my sister's and Waryum's legs before, so I can at least try…" whispered him while looking straight into her eyes. "It will hurt a bit for a moment, though."

A seemingly endless moment of silence filled the room, nothing but the sounds of the hospital and those outside filling the air…

"…do it."

…until the girl said the words that sealed her Fate. After all, what did she have to lose? In the worst-case scenario, this was just a bad and crazy dream and she would wake up soon. On the other hand, though, if this really wasn't a dream and the weird boy that always smiled was truly an alien that could help her…

Regret immediately filled Akane, however, when she saw 'Kirito' smile as his arm rose and mutated into some sort of black tentacle-like thing. She hadn't even been able to open her mouth to scream when it shot towards her head like a missile and pierced through her skin, filling her world with pain.

Pain that quickly faded, replaced with a numbing feeling, as if someone was stuffing her brain with cotton. Barely aware of the world around her, the sick girl could only dumbly stare at the concentration-filled face of the boy, a frown slowly starting to form on it as she felt 'things' expanding through her head like roots, the alien feeling creeping her out but not making her feel anything else…

Kazuto, for his part, bit his lips upon carefully piercing through Akane's cranium and finding what he was looking for. The tumor on the girl's brain was an ugly thing, the cancerous mass existing for nothing more than to destroy her poor life. It would be so easy for him to just rip it apart and devour the thing…and yet, he couldn't.

It was deep within Akane's most important organ. It had also already started to affect other parts of her body. The damage he was finding within her made what he had felt inside Sugu and Waryum laughable, and even how Kage-chan's body was when she was about to die seemed pathetic in comparison.

Deteriorated muscles and slowly weakening defenses aside, not to mention the damaged neural connections that had started paralyzing her legs, the alien experiment that thought of himself as human realized one terrible thing: Destroying the tumor would damage the girl's brain beyond repair. And the brain was something he didn't **dare** to touch, as it was what made her _herself_. Memories, emotions and the capability to interact with the world as a human being were all stored there…and the neurons were the only cells that almost did not regenerate at all, the majority having been there since birth and persisting till death. He may have the ability to restore them if they were damaged, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to restore what they actually stored, essentially destroying part of the girl's mind.

This wasn't like with Sugu or Waryum. There, he just 'fixed' things that their bodies would have ended up fixing themselves anyway. That was why his adoptive sister was so hungry the day after he 'healed' her, he had simply sped up the process and her body needed to recover the lost energy.

The sick of 'Merida', of the girl called Yamada Akane, wouldn't be able to recover from the damage it had suffered by itself, even with the help of medicine. Nothing could restore a destroyed brain, after all.

Frustration and anger filled him, and he was barely able to suppress the need to roar in sadness. It wasn't supposed to be like this! He should be able to help her, to fix her! It wasn't fair for her! Why couldn't she be different, like him?! His inhuman biology could probably fix this without problems, but humans couldn't…fully…regenerate…

 _Humans_ couldn't…

 **HUMANS**.

The image of a mutant crow with 3eyes stared back at him within his mind. Endless distorted visions of creatures of nightmare and beautiful abominations soared through his vision.

He…he could do it. Yamada Akane's human body couldn't restore the damage it had suffered, nor could it recover from the damage it needed to suffer to save her life…but his own biomass could fill those gaps. It just needed the right 'biological instructions' to do so once separated from him.

 _He could save her._

"Hang in there, Merida-san…I'm going to fix you."

All that the girl managed to answer, not having properly understood the words in her current state, was a slurred question.

Then, her world was plunged into darkness when Kazuto lifted her from the bed, tearing off all the medical machines hooked to her body in the process, and engulfed her, his body growing and changing, abandoning its human form as the black flesh enveloped the girl's body like a cocoon of hell, more tendrils shooting into her body as the strange and eyes-filled 'prison' closed.

 _Create temporary organs needed to keep it alive, then isolate the brain from the body…forceful separation complete._

As soon as Akane had been disconnected, emergency alarms had started to blare in that floor's main medical area.

 _Extract DNA print from the body…done. Now…break down the old body and fully replicate it anew using the available biomass from HIS body. Make sure it's exactly identical to the old one, but enhanced, made of his real form's 'flesh', correcting all the damage it had using the base of her own DNA as a blueprint…then Improve. Upgrade._

Doctors were informed even as two of the nurses on watch rushed towards the door where the girl was, running to see what had happened to her, worry and fear filling them as they thought the worst…

 _Merida liked to jump around when fighting in SAO. Understandable, given the state her legs had been in…so, improve the legs. The correct biological blueprint was found and grafted into the body…then something for the arms too, all the way down to the bone, to make sure she could protect herself. Done._

When the nurses got to the room and tried to open it…they couldn't. Startled, they tried again, but the door wouldn't budge. Something was blocking it, and this made them scream for help.

On the other side, one tendril had emerged from the nightmarish chrysalis, the eyes filling it moving in all directions as if in panic as they sped up the 'process'.

 _Now, the most dangerous part. Reaching into the brain…then 'infecting' it with his own DNA. Acting almost like a virus, he let it merge with every single one of Akane's brain cells. Then, the mutated brain ATE the tumor, rendering it into harmless biomass, and restored itself. It was absurdly fast considering the biological impossibility it was doing, but for Kazuto it felt as if it was taking an eternity, what with the people pounding on the door like crazy and the commotion outside…_

 _Done._

 _Now, put it together with the new body, in its rightful place, and connect everything back to its place…_

More people had arrived now a few were trying to bring down the door. They were getting desperate and calling security now. Soon, the door would give in and…

The monstrous 'cocoon' broke open, letting a colorless liquid to partially flood the room…and a gasping naked body to fall down, eyes opening in shock as the girl tried to recover her breath.

There was no shaky standing or slowly recovering, as it was usual in these cases, for Yamada Akane. As soon as she realized she was moving and breathing again, she jumped to her feet, then felt utter shock at how easily and fast she had done so.

She was standing up. She was feeling no pain or weakness. In fact, she felt better than ever before…and she had her hair back. A bit too long, going just past her neck, and in a severe need of a fix, but it _was there_.

Also, she was naked and completely soaked, but she couldn't have cared less about that. The girl was barely able to suppress a scream of joy as she spun around to look for her savior…only to find him on his hands and knees beside her bed, looking pale and shaking as he threw up a bit of black liquid, making her eyes grow wide.

"Ki-Kirito-san! Are you okay?!" worriedly shouted Akane, only now becoming aware of the commotion outside her room, vaguely noticing what seemed like black bone blocking her door like a web, even as she stopped beside the 'alien' and helped him to his feet, noticing how his clothes were all but ruined and barely more than rags hanging into him. "Yo-you did it, but…what happened to you?!"

"I-I fixed you, but…oh God, I…I had to eat your body before reconstructing it…" whispered the black-haired boy while trying very hard not to throw up again, looking truly sick. "That…that was horrible, Gods…I-I didn't think I would have to…ugh…"

"We-well, what matters is that I'm fine, ri-right?!" tried to reassure him the girl with a nervous tone, the part of her unnerved about the alien 'eating' her not being enough to push down the euphoric part of her that was celebrating being cured. "And…oh damn, the hospital's staff is going to break down the door to get in! Why did you block it?!"

Finally gathering himself, Kazuto's eyes widened as his head shot towards the shaking door, the sound of something metallic hitting it from the outside filling the air.

"Oh no…we need to go!" shouted the gamer before grabbing the confused girl, rushing towards the window as if his life depended on it.

"Wa-wait, go where?! I'm fine now, why…?!"

"I-I didn't think this through, okay? I originally planned just to 'cure' you and let them find out in the morning as a 'miracle', but I had to 'change' you when I realized I couldn't do the former! We can't let any doctor examining you now, you can't change your internal biomass instinctively like I do!"

"What are you talking about?! What do you mean you changed me?!" screamed a now very scared Akane as he all but swept her off her feet, jumping _out of the window_ , the girl not even able to scream when he morphed his arm into a claw-tipped tentacle and shot it towards the roof of the closest building, catapulting them there. "KYA! No, stop, let me go, let me go…!"

"Merida-san, calm down, I need to…!"

With another scream, prey of the panic, Akane's right arm shot towards the boy's chest.

Her flesh was pierced from the inside out, letting her see black muscle and flesh under her normal human skin, as her forearm and hand 'opened' in a macabre way to let her growing and blade-sharp bones out, a nightmarish parody of a scimitar made of metallic-looking bone skewering Kazuto through the chest, blood falling everywhere.

A wet sound filled the air as both bodies crashed and rolled through the rooftop, away from each other. Once she finally stopped moving, the girl that called herself Merida in the virtual world stood up, shaking, looking at the monstrous biological weapon in which her arm had become.

It, her whole arm and part of her chest and face, were covered in blood. The blood of the boy, alien or whatever…she had just killed.

"Oh…n-no…no…please, no, I didn't…!"

"Ugh…why did you do that? Now what remains of my clothes is all bloody! That was mean!"

Akane was sure everyone in the building below them was able to hear her scream when she saw the gamer standing before her, not a sign of a wound in his body, before her arm slashed at him again as it by instinct…and he stopped it with his bare hand, the bone-blade not piercing his skin at all this time.

"…uh?"

"Woah…okay, that's useful. Gotta remember to do that by instinct." muttered Kazuto while tilting his head towards where the girl's arm wasn't piercing him, feeling something snapping back into place as his body remembered it didn't need to be as fragile as that of a human even while looking like one. "And please, calm down…yo-you just need to concentrate a bit to return your arm to normal, by the way!"

"Concen…trate…?" whispered Akane while looking at her monstrous limb, watching with horrified fascination as it 'closed' upon itself, the bones retreating back to their normal shape/size and the muscles and flesh closing over them as the skin regrew over it all. "…oh. I'm alien now."

"Ehm…well, yes and no. I mean, you're still technically human, I only reconstructed you using my flash and part of some DNA blueprints I had within me, so…you're a hybrid?" tried to explain the boy with a sheepish look. "I don't even know what I exactly am, pretty sure not even the ones that made me what I am do, so I can't give you a straight answer…"

"Lusus Naturae." muttered the girl while standing up, looking directly at him with an unreadable expression.

"…what?"

"It's Latin. It means 'Freak of Nature', more or less. Something that's strange or unnatural and that doesn't belong to the natural order." explained Akane while closing and opening her hands. "It seems…fitting, for what you said…"

"Uh…well, it _does_ sound cool…" commented Kazuto while tilting his head, before looking back at the girl with worry. "Still, do you get now why I had to get you out of there?"

"Yes…yes, I do…" gulped the girl while trying not to think about all the implications involved, knowing she would probably have a panic attack if she sat down to do so. "Wha-what are you planning to do now?"

"Well…I had planned to go save all your friends too, and now I guess you can tag along." revealed the gamer while shrugging, getting a look of mixed awe and horror from the shocked Akane. "But, first, uhm…we should probably get you something to wear."

It was at that moment that Yamada Akane remembered that, yes, her hospital gown had apparently been destroyed and she had been naked for a while now, standing before a guy just slightly older than her.

When she screamed again and KICKED the black-haired boy, sending him flying off the building, the teenager idly realized the leg she had used to do so had become jet-black, with steel-like muscles and strange joints of bone-like carapace, but she didn't really care anymore.

First, she was going to get some clothes. Then, she was getting that crazy monster-boy to slow down and let HER talk to the rest of her guild. And after that…well, she was already cured of her incurable state, even if she became half-alien to do so, and also everyone else probably thought she had been kidnaped, so…

Would her friends freak out too much if the same was offered to them?

* * *

 _"To Create something new, something of equal value must be lost in the process."_ – Law of Equivalent Exchange (Don't try human transmutation at home, kids).

* * *

It was just past midnight and Konno Aiko was turning in her bed, feeling tired. Granted, she always felt tired in the real world lately, but it was especially annoying that night. She just hoped it was just something in her head, because even if was a simple cold…well, her body probably wouldn't take kindly to it.

She was just about to give up on sleeping and call Dr. Kurahashi to tell him something was wrong…when she felt a 'presence' within her room.

Eyes snapping open, the older of the Konno twins looked around…to see her room quite crowded.

All around her, there were familiar faces in several places of her room, though only 3 stood around her bed. Also, she noticed 2 of them were huddled together in one corner, apparently trying to not freak out as they did _something_ with their hands, while another was comforting a younger one at one side, telling her everything would be fine. Also, another one was _hanging upside down_ from a corner of the ceiling. The ones closest to her were her best friend, the unofficial 'big sister' of their strange 'family'…and the boy they had met the other day in Aincrad.

Oh, and did she mention the part where all of them had their right eyes (Except the boy, who had both) looking like something out of a horror movie?

Granted, there was something cool with the red slits, golden sclera and black veins, at least in her opinion, but…

"Ehm…Ra…I mean, Aiko? Are you awake?" asked An Si-eun, the one she called Siune almost all the time, while awkwardly scratching her head, making Aiko realize everyone in the room except the boy next to her bed seemed to had a bad case of wild hair.

"Siune? What's going on? Merida, how…how are you standing?! And…why is Kirito-san here?"

The black-haired boy opened his mouth, apparently to answer her, only for Akane's hand to shot out at a surprising speed and close it, not even batting an eyebrow at the action while he frowned her way.

She completely ignored it, as if she had done so many times already, before sighing and looking at her with a…complicated expression.

Finally, Akane spoke up and her words weren't something Aiko had ever been expecting to be asked.

"Say, Aiko dear…how attached are you to your humanity?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** _I REJECT MY HUMANITY, JOJO!_

…no, wait, wrong quote. That doesn't really apply to this situation at all (Dammit, Dio!)…eh, anyway, you know what they say, it's always time for a Jojo Reference XP

And so, we arrive once again to that part which reminds us that, for all his strange silliness, Kazuto isn't actually human, and his mind is warped to levels that can be disturbing or scary. One would argue that what he did to Merida was inhuman or something along those lines, maybe even horrible, but what about her after going over the freak out? And what about the rest of the Sleeping Knights (Especially given that all of them but Siune, and they had no way of knowing that, were going to die for sure in some years, 2 of them in little more than 1)? Which consequences will it bring for them and for him? All those answers…next chapter!

Also, he REALLY shouldn't have gone around asking for kisses, let along actually kissing, from the girls he knows. Kayaba isn't the only one about to have a headache and worse because of that…

Oh, and a bit of info for anyone who wants it: Merida's status and the details of it are canon, though her name isn't, as despite showing up IRL in the sidestory "Sisters' Prayer", they didn't reveal it -x- Those who have read said sidestory, her different development is because she had SAO there to help her cope, as explained, and used it as a source of hope for all her friends. Funny thing, despite there being no Death Game in this word, if Lusus!Kirito hadn't also convinced him to change the Nerve Gear into something more similar to the AmuSphere, she would still have been unable to continue enjoying VR because of her tumor, as the original design's high-density microwaves were dangerous because of her state (And this, ironically, is what saved her in canon from being trapped in SAO).

Finally, before leaving you with the Omake, a special announcement for my long-time readers! After many inner debates and judging the current situation of my stories, given that I'm about to enter my summer vacations (Remember I live in Spain), I have decided something: At worst by the end of this summer, I **will be starting my long-awaited sequel: 'One Punch-Gamer: Chains of Fate'.** This means I will try to redouble my efforts to finish RU in time, but if I manage to get a job for the summer (I REALLY need to save some money for next year…and get a PS4 too) I may just put it on hold whenever I am by then and start it. I have put THAT off long enough and I'm sure many are waiting for it, never mind that any and all plot points I had to think about and plan are more than ready. So remember, if you were waiting for it, it's coming! And if you STILL haven't read the Alicization Arc in the SAO Novels, go and do so before the summer's end comes, or you will get endless Spoilers XP

Well, that's all for now! I leave you all with today's Omake about a certain freak of nature in a certain weird high school that is surprisingly normal from his point of view XD

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 4: The Big Bad Freak and the Little Wolf.**

Ginei Morioka wasn't your average 2nd-year high school student, though the fact that he attended Youkai Academy should be a more than enough hint of that.

He just so happened to be a werewolf, an S-Class Monster renowned for their godly speed, and the president of the nigh-defunct Newspaper Club.

He was also probably the biggest pervert inside the school, though he hid it magnificently under a charming façade. That wasn't to say he wasn't a nice guy, not at all, but the problem was that, sometimes, he got a bit too much into his perverted tendencies, and when this mixed with the effect the Moon had over his race, things usually got a bit 'out of hand'.

Of course, it wasn't as if he ever had been caught. His aforementioned speed had allowed him to always get away with his 'fun', and even his new minions (Members of his club) hadn't realized at all that he was the same 'peeping tom' he had tasked them to catch. After all, what better way to take all suspicion off you than pretending you were hunting the culprit of a crime YOU had actually committed? It was perfect!

Plus, it helped that 2 of his new members were top-class beauties beyond belief, Kurono Kurumu and Akashiya Moka. The latter especially had caught his eye, because, even if she wasn't as 'developed' as the former, she had an especially cute air that really made his blood boil (If you get what he meant).

There was only one _small problem_ with this, though…and it was the fact the fact that both beauties were clearly fawning (And not so subtly fighting) over the third new member of the club, one ever-smiling and, in his opinion, hopelessly naïve Kirigaya Kazuto. A way too happy and childish boy that, while funny and friendly, was a clear obstacle in his objective of getting the pink-haired girl for himself, so he had quickly devised the perfect plan to not only get him out of his way, but also to make everyone believe the first year was the peeper they were all looking for!

And so, taking advantage of his too-trusting-nature, Gin had called him specifically to an area he was sure the boy wouldn't recognize, given how little time he had been in school, and that was actually behind one of the girls' changing rooms. He had also made sure to bring his camera, ready to take picture of the kid in the middle of 'peeping'. There were absolutely no flaws in his glorious plan!

…so, how the hell had things ended up like this?!

"Please, Gin-sempai, give up now." pleaded Kazuto with a small frown from his place at the other side of the roof, a wide-eyed Moka half-hidden behind him and an angry Kurumu circling in the air, out of the now fully transformed werewolf's reach (And with quite specific claw-marks on her uniform seemingly made more to show off her underwear than to hurt her). "You're just making things worse for yourself, I'm sure everyone will forgive you with a light punishment if you apologize!"

"Not me!"

"Kurumu-chan, you're not helping!"

"He-here he comes again!" squeaked Moka as the silver blur moved in their direction, reaching out as if to grab her.

And, for the third time, a sigh filled Ginei's ears as somehow the boy was THERE, in his path, despite his supernatural speed, only this time he had his leg raised to collide directly with his stomach.

As he felt the impact of something absurdly hard robbing him of all breath, the werewolf was able to notice how the now ruined pants of the boy uniform allowed everyone to see his legs now filled with strange black muscle in a streamlines way, bone-like carapace and strange joints filling it, like some carefully placed 'eyes'.

"GUAH!" 'howled' the canine monster as he rolled back and crashed against the edge of the roof, only to quickly shoot back to his feet and start moving around again, Kurumu cursing as her claws didn't pierce anything but air when she dove towards him. "How do you keep doing that?!"

"You may be faster than anything I have seen, Gin-sempai…" softly declared Kazuto with a calm smile, his eyes snapping open to show how they were now red-slitted and with a golden sclera filled with black veins. "But you're no match for my reaction time!"

"Kuh…don't get cocky just because you can make a fancy trick with your legs!" snarled the werewolf while searching for an opening.

"Actually, I'm not very good with my legs. That was me copying a friend, she's a master of running and jumping around while fighting…also gives some mean kicks…"

"Wait, someone kicked you like that, Kazuto-kun?!"gasped Moka with horror as she stepped out from behind the gamer to look at him worriedly. "Why would they…?!"

"BIG CHANCE!"

"Moka, you idiot, watch out!"

"Moka-chan!"

For the grinning Ginei, everything was going as if in slow motion as he swiftly neared the pink-haired girl's worried from, fur-covered arms and claws ready to grab her: Kurumu shouting as she tried to descend, Moka's face turning into shocked realization and Kazuto's hand raising into the air towards her, the only thing going at 'normal speed' from his point of view being himself and that strange black tendril filled with eyes and teeth that had grown from the boy's hand and was grabbing his prey's rosary…

Wait, what?

An open palm backed with unholy power slamming and then closing around his snout was the next thing the werewolf knew, the hand quickly squeezing as the sharp nails dig through his powerful fur and sank into his skin. Eyes wide, the S-Class Monster realized that the sky had seemingly turned blood red and that a cloud of bats was fading away, the taller, more mature-looking, red eyed, and silver-haired girl with sharp fangs holding him apparently seeming quite mad.

"N-no fucking way…you're a vampire?!"

"Uff…made it in time." happily commented Kazuto while raising the girl's Rosario in his tendril, Kurumu having stopped moving and was hovering anxiously behind her, still not used to the presence of the 'other'.

Inner Moka, for her part, ignored the exchange as she kept her grip on Ginei's snout, an angry snarl escaping her mouth as the werewolf tried to break free, but his glorious speed meant little when he wasn't strong enough to break free from the other S-Class Monster.

"You piece of trash…daring to try and claim MY body as yours?! You disgust me!" proclaimed the Super Vampire before gathering all her strength, jumping and throwing the howling creature into the air, spinning over herself and raising her leg as high as she could, the full moon behind her making it an impressive sight…though Ginei's stunned mind was more fixed in the free view up her skirt that the stance gave her. **"Know your…!"**

Suddenly, Inner Moka froze, feeling someone beside her, the shocked vampire's gaze moving to the side to see a grinning Kazuto shoulder to shoulder with her in the middle of the air, his 'super leg' aligned with hers as they started to fall down over the suddenly terrified werewolf.

She hadn't even felt him arrive there. And he had done so _faster_ than her own jump and spin, despite gravity.

Had…had he been _faster than Ginei_ since the very beginning?

So shocked thinking about the implications of this as her body continued her signature kicking motion on auto-pilot, Inner Moka was unable to finish her usual 'attack name', nor to stop the black-haired boy when he made his own, outrageous one.

 _ **"Double Rider Kick!"**_ happily screamed Kazuto as both his mutated leg and Moka's one slammed into their Sempai's chest.

The werewolf had enough time to think _'Oh fuck'_ before he was propelled downwards with the double kick like a furred missile, crashing with such force against the rooftop that it cracked and he fell down to the building's insides.

Kurumu STARED at the scene even as the grinning gamer landed beside her and the stunned Moka did the same on her other side, blinking as if finally realizing what had just happened.

"…okay, I have to be honest…that was awesome." confessed the succubus before blushing when Kazuto playfully slapped her shoulder.

"Wasn't it?! We totally nailed that!" happily declared the black-haired boy while his leg returned to normal, quickly turning with a raised hand towards the frowning Moka, as if ready for a high-five. "Good job, Inner Moka-san! We totally beat Gin-sempai into submission! Now, he will surely see the error of his ways and become our friend!"

"…that's the dumbest thing I have heard you say so far." deadpanned the silver-haired girl before snatching away her rosary from the gamer's hand, starting to put it on again. "If that ever happens, I will start calling you 'Kazuto-sama'."

And with a snort, the Super Vampire was gone and only the wobbly Outer Akashiya Moka was left, looking confused.

Days later, when Ginei showed to have learned the error of his ways and became their actual friend, even if he still was a huge pervert, a scream of frustrated horror could have been heard through Youkai coming from a certain girl's Rosario.

Needless to say, Inner Moka would try and not even look at Kazuto the next time she was summoned…

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** Done! Shorter than previous one, but really, poor Gin-sempai didn't stand a chance against the weird randomness of Lusus!Kirito. He's not the only one with bad luck because of it, though. After all, Inner Moka just learned that the 'painful' way XD Also, who doesn't like some random Kamen Rider references :3?

Next time, a certain loli witch discovers she isn't the silliest character around. SHINING FIN…!


	10. Chapter 8: What makes you a Monster?

Hello everyone, this is Saint once again, bringing you all another chapter of the weirdest SAO Fic around! No apologies this time, as more than enough people has told me it doesn't matter, but I want to at least reassure you that the next chapter of RU is underway and that I'm no longer having problems like pressuring myself to write, it's just that this thing is SO damn addictive XD

Speaking of which, I have a great and surprising announcement: Both this story and Requiem Universus now have their own TvTropes pages! Can you believe it?! You can find the links to both of them in my profile, my dear readers, and I would be grateful to anyone who has time to help filling them :) They're small now, but with your help we can make them grow and have everything they should XP Also, RU now has a new cover, thanks a lot to the dear friend and reader **Pikanet128** for that =D

Oh, and this story finally went over 200 reviews! Yay! Thanks a lot to you all for loving this weird-as-hell idea of mine OwO Now, on with the show!

 **PS:** This chapter has been Beteaed by CrayZay Jay! Once again, thanks for your hard work :D

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: What makes you a Monster?**

 **August 25th, 2023. Yokohama, Kanagawa. Yokohama North General Hospital, 01:10…**

Konno Yuuki stared at the 'ceiling' of her 'room' with a vacant stare, feeling that strange sensation of not being really tired but still having the 'need' to sleep.

Of course, being technical, she was already 'sleeping'. At least her real body was, out there, in her real room. Where she was right now, however, was the Virtual Space within the 'Medical FullDive Tester', or Medicuboid to abbreviate. Actually, it was the second, improved version of the machine, as its predecessor, the MFT1, had been way clunker and misshapen before they got enough data to upgrade at the, while still big, way more compact and functional machine she used today. Idly, she recalled being told by Dr. Kurahashi that the Upgrade from the first prototype had come along so fast because it was Kayaba Akihiko himself who had looked over and processed the data they got from her testing of the machine.

Being honest, Yuuki didn't really care much for that. Sure, she was very grateful to everyone that had given her the opportunity, and knew that the fact such an important man bothered to go through so much for her sake, even if indirectly (As it was more about the machine than her), was kind of a big deal, but, at the end of the day, she was just a sick 13 years old girl that had spent more than a year in a hospital and probably would spend the rest of her (Arguably not very long) life there. For her, the single moment when Aiko had told her that _she_ should be the one to test the Medicuboid instead of her was way more important and touching than anything the creator of the machine could be doing for her, especially because of the cruel reality it implied, even if her smiling twin never addressed it and she certainly didn't either.

The probability of Aiko dying before her was all but absolute. It could happen in 5 years or maybe the day after tomorrow, there was no way of knowing or to prevent it, but the fact was that her big sister would probably leave this world before her.

She didn't know what she would do when that day came…but Merida always said that there was no need to fear for the future as long as they lived their present as best as they could.

The memory of their smiling friend and leader brought a smile to Yuuki's face. It was surprising, shocking even, how she could be in a situation actually _worse_ than the twins' and still be so positive about life. After all, while Konno sisters had known for almost their whole life, even if they could barely understand it when they were younger, that they were going to die because of a bad joke of Fate. Unlike the incurable disease that they got infected by at birth, though, the older girl's tumor was something that had been discovered all of a sudden, relatively recently in her life, literally taking her future away without any warning.

…okay, maybe this wasn't exactly the best train of thought to have when she couldn't sleep, but being fair Yuuki sometimes found the virtual space inside the machine that, in a way, was becoming intimate part of her life to be a bit depressing. Every time, though, she found herself not only forced, but also welcoming spending more time inside it than outside.

The girl wasn't foolish, and she knew that Aiko either, so she had obviously noticed it: As the months passed, it became clear how weaker her body got, how easier it was for her to simply get away from the pain and the sorrow that using her real body gave her by just letting the Medicuboid cut off all those feelings.

Soon, she would probably be unable to even get off the machine without seriously risking her health anymore. It probably wouldn't take more than a year for that point to be reached, maybe even less.

But despite that, Konno Yuuki had sworn she would continue moving forward. Even if the world did not care for her suffering, as long as she had those she cared for at her side she would keep smiling, she would keep 'fighting' against Destiny and Fate, even if it was absolutely pointless.

After all, just the mere act of smiling and making those around you smile was more than enough for some people. Like that strange and unbelievably skilled boy that had beaten their best friend and leader.

"Psst…Yuuki-san! We came for you!"

Yeah, the same boy that was now calling her from the observation room beside her…wait, what?!

"You idiot! Why did you rush ahead?! I told you this place is way more guarded than any of our hospitals! Hell, Aiko-chan repeated it like a dozen times!"

"So-sorry, Meri…uhm, Akane-san, but that's exactly why we should hurry! I put all cameras here on a loop, but we have little time before someone notices something is wrong!"

"And I still have no idea of how you even know how to do that…actually, given what has happened tonight, I don't think I want to know…"

"Merida, don't be so mean to the boy, we need to…!"

"Yuu! Yuu, you there?! Come out, we have to hurry!"

"A-Aiko-nee? Merida?! Everyone?! And…Kirito-san?!" shouted the wide-eyed Yuuki through the external audio of the Medicuboid, which was directly connected to the observation room, making all lights lit up to see that, effectively, her whole guild was there, in the flesh, looking surprisingly well for a bunch of terminally ill people (Even with the strangely wild hair and the hospital gowns), not to mention her very own twin standing beside their best friend and the very same boy she had just been thinking about (Who was wearing some very ragged-looking and partially destroyed clothes). "Ho-how…why…you…?!"

"Yuuki, please, calm down!" stopped her Merida with a serious and commanding voice, that which everyone recognized as her rare 'Guild Leader'-mode. "I know you have a lot of questions, but as our careless 'friend' here said, we have little time, so please, trust us with this, okay?! We need to get out of here…all of us!"

"O-out of here…? As in…out of the hospital…?" asked the youngest Konno with a shaky voice, feeling a horrible fear gripping her very soul. "But…Merida, you know I-I can't even leave this roo…"

"Yuu. Please hear me out." spoke Aiko with an unusually serious voice, attracting her sister's attention…and making her gasp at noticing that, with the lights on, not only did she look healthier than ever, but one of her eyes had suddenly turned a bizarre mix of colors. "You know I wouldn't be able to get here on my own normally…hell, you should have realized Merida shouldn't even be _standing_ here with us, you remember how she looked when she visited last week! So, please, trust me…everything is going to be okay, but we need to get out before someone notices we're here."

For a moment, no answer came as Yuuki stared at her twin from within the machine.

Then, a soft smile blossomed on her face, because if there was one thing that she was sure of more than anything in the world, was that her sister would never lie to her. And that everything she had ever done had been for the youngest sake over her own.

"Okay, Aiko-nee…you know I will always trust you. But, how do I get out of…?"

"Waaah!"came a screaming voice from just beside Yuuki's bed, the girl's eyes widened as she looked through the camera aiming to that side in time to see the ceiling's vent duct break open as the boy she only knew as 'Kirito' fell down, face crashing against and cracking the floor of her room. "Uh…damn, it's not as easy as it was a couple years ago, at least not without changing…have I grown up that much or is this just way smaller than the one at Argus…?"

"Wha…? How did you get there?!" demanded a shocked Aiko while Akane and An Si-eun blinked, looking to where the boy had been between them and only seeing the half-open entrance to another duct in the floor.

"No time for explanations, Ran-san, we need to hurry! I'm not sure but there may have been some hidden sensors in there that I tripped!" replied Kazuto with urgency as his hands flew over the complex external controls of the Medicuboid and the attached machines, drawing many surprised looks from its user and the rest of the Sleeping Knights at seeing them all powering down without issue.

"Yo-you know how to operate the Medicuboid?" questioned a surprised Yuuki as he finally started powering down the main machine, making the virtual room around her go dark.

"I read the prototype's original manual directly from the creator's computer…it's kind of a long story." offered the gamer for answer after seeing the disbelieving looks being sent his way even as the youngest Konno sister gasped and opened her eyes as the machine removed itself from over her head. "What? This machine it's not only expensive but also extremely important! Did you think I was just going to tear it apart to get Yuuki-san out?"

"To be honest…yeah, a part of me did." confirmed Akane with a sheepish look even as the rest of her guild nodded along, Kazuto pouting their way in a way too childish way for someone his age as he swiftly grabbed Yuuki bridal style, ignoring her squeal of surprise in favor of securing her firmly. "So, how are you getting out of that sealed room with Yuuki-chan without tripping any alarms?"

Another moment of silence filled the area while the black-haired boy's face became unreadable, his eyes never leaving the anxious forms of the Sleeping Knights.

"…you have no idea, right?" expressed Clovis, known in the real world as Madarame Kaito (And hanging upside down from that room's ceiling too), what everyone was thinking.

"…everyone, start running towards the nearest window." was all that the now blushing gamer answered before, to Yuuki's absolute shock, his arm turned into a sharp and long limb ended in a spiked bone-like tail, which he proceeded to smash against the reinforced glass separating them from the observation room.

The alarms hadn't even started ringing when Yuuki found herself staring in frozen wonder at the endless shards of glass raining all around her, idly aware of her sister screaming while her friends dragged her and rushed out of the room.

Thousands of small black tendrils shot out all around her, trapping the broken pieces of glass in midair and dragging it _inside_ the black-haired boy's body, making him grimace but not allowing even a single one to touch her weakened body.

The next second, they were already out in the hallway, some screams being heard at the opposite end of it as they rushed after Si-eun, who motioned crazily as she jumped out of the closest window, the youngest Konno realizing that everyone else but her frozen sister had done the same before her.

Aiko didn't even have time to scream before Kazuto shot past her, grabbed her arm with a new tentacle, and dragged her along as he catapulted himself out of the hospital and into the air, more than 30 meters above the ground.

The twins screamed at unison (Though one of them quickly broke into a coughing fit because of it) as they 'flew' all the way to the closest building's rooftop, the boy's feet cracking the surface of it as he landed.

"Woah! That was fucking cra…!"

"Keep moving!" shouted the gamer without slowing down, interrupting whatever Jun, or Yamashita Daiki in reality, had been about to say, still carrying/dragging the terrified Konno twins while everyone looked at him in shock. "We need to get far enough away so that they won't find us! Security there was way higher than any of your hospitals!"

"Well, you heard the 'boss' everyone! Follow the alien!" ordered Akane with a strangely cheerful tone, earning many disbelieving looks as her legs morphed into that strange and bizarre form and she leaped after Kazuto with a massive grin. "Yahooo!"

"…are we sure she didn't go insane because of whatever he did to us?" questioned Nori, Tano Asami in real life, as she casually sprouted a long and strong-looking snake-like tail from her lower back in the middle of her next jump, using the new limb to casually swing herself from a lightning rod.

"…I think we all did a little, Nori." sighed Si-eun as her hair expanded into a myriad of tendrils, wondering about how bizarre it was that she did not feel any pain when she used them to drag herself forward as she almost fell short from her next rooftop-hopping.

"If we did, I prefer it a thousand times over how we were before!" said Daiki as he jumped forward, his legs abnormally long and ending in deadly-looking claws that let him impossibly maneuver through the roofs.

"This is…bizarre." commented Kobushi Nobuyuki, better known by his friends as Tecchi, even as his now powerfully long and armored arms, seeming like those of some super gorilla, carried him easily through the distance. "But undeniably cool…you okay back there, Talken?"

"Ehm…define okay?" was the answer of the young man known as Tamaru Atsushi out of the virtual world, currently hanging from friend's back, as one of his hands nervously moved to adjust glasses he wasn't truly wearing and realizing his mistake at the last second, almost having slammed his suddenly scythe-like limb to his face. "Ugh…damn it, keeping this normal actually takes focus…and I'm sure I SHOULD be creeping out way more from it…"

"Well…at least Clovis seems to be enjoying himself as much as Merida?" offered Nobu with a sheepish grin while looking towards the one closing the march, the boy's limbs now filled with sharp-looking 'spikes' that let him easily grip and jump from vertical surfaces.

"Damn…I feel like an alien Spiderman, minus the webs!" shouted Kaito with a massive grin as he somersaulted over his two friends.

"…like what?"

"Ehm…you know, Spiderman? American comic superhero? Does anything a spider does?"

"I was never really into superheroes…"

"Never read an American comic."

"…seriously? How can you two have never heard of…?!"

"Hey, you three! Can you please go faster?! We're trying to run away from the authorities without anyone noticing!"

"So-sorry, Siune!"

After the 3 males gave their shaky answer, silence descended among the bizarre group as they tried to keep up with their strange 'savior', Aiko's screams finally stopping after a while. Not long after that, Kazuto finally landed on a relatively small building near the outskirts of Yokohama, the silent area making clear that most people there were sleeping. Releasing a tired sigh, the boy turned around…and blinked at the sight of the tired-looking Sleeping Knights trying to catch their breaths, the Konno twins whimpering as he let go of the oldest one and she fell to the ground while seemingly trying to hug it, Yuuki barely able to release a small cough.

"Uhm…sorry about that, I guess I was going a bit too fast…"

"Just…'a bit'…?" gasped Akane with a disbelieving look, she seeming the less winded of the group, but still looking exhausted as hell. "How could you run and jump around like that for half an hour without even slowing down? Hell…you don't even look tired!"

"Well, I'm not feeling tired at all…and I already told you, you're not really 'like me'. I remade and enhanced your bodies beyond what any normal human has, but genetically you're still human." explained the gamer while sitting on the rooftop's edge, giving the group of 'hybrids' time to recover. "Biologically, you're still the same: You have lungs to breathe, a brain, a heart pumping blood through your veins…the main difference, though, is that you will probably find professional athletes having a hard time hurting you with even their best efforts, or getting any kind of sickness again. A big car running you over could still seriously injure you, though, and falling from a skyscraper tall enough may overcome the regeneration I gave you…"

"So…we're superhuman, but not Shonen-level characters. Got it." spoke Asami while scratching the back of her head, her gaze moving towards the shrinking tail that was vanishing inside her hospital gown. "And these, uhm, super alien-things you gave us…?"

"Partially because I thought they would suit you, but they're mainly biological stabilizers." everyone blinked in clear confusion, looking at him with raised eyebrows while he tried once again to explain it. "Well…look at it this way: While I did use your DNA to reconstruct your bodies, I still used MY biomass to do so, and it's not exactly…stable, so to speak. Let's say I had to put those on and rewire your nerves for you to use them as if they had always been part of you so that you could still conserve your human forms without…complications."

"…that's SO ominous that not only do I not want to ask for details, but I think I don't even want to know what you 'put' in my body…" muttered Aiko as she finally stood up again, before her eyes widened at hearing a weak cough coming from the young girl still in Kazuto's arms. "Yuu! Kirito-san, you have to…!"

"No. I need to ask for her permission first." firmly denied the black-haired boy, ignoring the older Konno's outraged shout and the worried looks the others send his way. "I gave you all the chance, right? Even to Merida-san…but I ended up doing to her, and to you all, way more than I originally expected. Even if she bothered to explain it better to every single one, I still asked you, and so, I will do so again…Yuuki-san? Can you hear me?"

"Ye-yes…heh…you're quite fast…" weakly muttered the girl, noticeably pale and trembling from the cold, but with a smile on her face as she stared past him and towards the heavens. "Ah…when was the last time I could see the night sky in this world…?"

"Yuuki-san…I can help you. Like…like I did with your sister and with everyone here, but…you will stop being normal. Become 'weird'. You will be saved, but in exchange…"

"Just do it." cut him off the youngest Konno with a surprisingly strong tone, having gathered all her strength to say those words like that. "Even if…I hadn't already…accepted Aiko-nee's words…these last minutes had been…the greatest I could have…dreamed of. After all, I never…thought I would be able to…go out and run around with everyone…in the real world. So, if you're going to do…something, then please, do so alre…!"

Whatever else Yuuki was going to say died in her throat when she felt flesh shaking and shifting around her and saw alien eyes and black tentacles close around her body.

She didn't even have time to start screaming before feeling a momentary sharp pain in her chest and her consciousness became muddled.

Everyone around couldn't help but grimace at the sight of the 'alien cocoon' forming, and Aiko looked positively sick as she took a step away from the bizarre thing, eyes wide.

"Go-Gods…that's how it…looks from the outside…?" shakily questioned the older Konno.

"No matter how many times I see it, it's still quite bizarre…" muttered Akane while walking around the monstrous chrysalis. "I wonder if he can even hear us right now…?"

"Is anyone else freaked out by…how calmly we're taking this?" questioned a nervous Atsushi as her nervously sat down near the roof's edge. "As in, shouldn't we be all screaming or having some sort of existential crisis right now?"

"We're not all like you, Talken." snorted Asami while hugging her legs.

"No, Nori, he has a point." commented Si-eun with a pensive look, a hand over her cheek as she looked from her friends to the pulsating form of the alien boy (And wasn't that still a crazy thought to have?) 'saving' Yuuki. "I think we're all just in shock and the full reality of the situation hasn't fully settled in yet. We will most likely be freaking out way more in a few hours."

"Either that or he brainwashed us all to not panic about this." joked Nobu with a light tone, only to blink at the sudden frozen and pale looks on his friends' faces. "He-hey, guys, c'mon, I was just joking to lighten what Siune said. There is no way he would have done that…right?"

"…well, if he was really going to brainwash us, he would have made us do his bidding or something, right?" offered Kaito while repeatedly calling forth and retracting the spikes from one of his hands. "He doesn't seem even remotely smart enough to do that…if anything, I would say he's _even more innocent than Yuuki_ , and that's saying something."

"Hey! Clovis, was that an insult to my sis…?!"

"Aiko, please, calm down." interrupted Akane with a serious voice, making them all look at their leader as she crossed her arms. "I know this isn't what any of us imagined how things would be…but we are already here, so we have to do our best to keep moving. I…I do trust him. Kirito doesn't seem to be the type to use and lie to others, the whole alien business notwithstanding…but if things get out of hand, we're literally 9 against 1, all of us with alien powers. We can totally take him."

Suddenly, all the members of the Sleeping Knights blinked and looked around, confused, wondering why they felt as if some Higher Existence was laughing at them.

However, none of them could properly understand the feeling before the wet sound of the cocoon beside them open filled the night, Aiko being the first one on her feet as the coughing form of Konno Yuuki fell to her knees, eyes wide as she looked at her hands.

She was shaking as she easily stood up, even as Kazuto reformed behind her, sighing as he looked at his ruined clothes before passing the slightly ragged and soaking wet hospital gown she had been wearing to the naked girl.

"Here, I made sure to not destroy it by mistake, but I couldn't do anything to keep it dry. Sorry about tha…" suddenly, the black-haired boy found himself blinking in confusion as he was trapped in a hug, the young girl seemingly trying to bury her face on his shoulder sobbing but smiling at the same time. "Yu-Yuuki-san…?"

"Thanks…thanks…" cried Yuuki even as her worried twin rushed at her side, whispering soothing words at her as she took the gown from the gamer's hands and, after a couple minutes, awkwardly separated her sister from him, helping her put it on. "Aiko-nee…I feel great! I can stand…I feel like I can go jumping from here to the other side of the city! The smells, the sounds, everything…it feels amazing after so long!"

"Shhh, okay, Yuu, calm down. I know you're excited, but it won't do if you start going all crazy and someone notices us, okay?" after getting a shaky nod from her enthusiastic twin, the oldest Konno sister sighed and looked towards the smiling Kazuto, a complicated expression on his face. "I never thought I would say this to someone who turned me into an alien but…thanks. Really."

"Hybrid. And you're welcome, I only wanted to help." nodded the black-haired boy while his eye shifted between his 'human' and his 'alien' ones. "Hope you two get used to the Osteokinesis without problem!"

"…the what?"

"Wah! Aiko-nee, look!" shouted an excited Yuuki from besides her twin, making her look with a blank face as her sister was somehow extracting a black blade made of bone from her back, the gruesome visage apparently not affecting her as she extracted it and the 'wound' on her back closed, her eyes fixed on the 'weapon' like a child who just got their birthday present. "It's awesome!"

"The virus in you two…well, it's probably the nastiest thing I have ever seen, at least from what I can remember of 'before' being who I am now, so…I gave you the ability to freely manipulate your own bones." explained the gamer while looking at his hand with a frown, isolating and disassembling the workings of the HIV deep within his DNA, only to dismiss it as he looked back to the sisters. "Don't overuse it, though, you don't have a massive reserve of biomass like me…oh, and make sure to drink lots of milk!"

"…ah."

"Will do! Thanks for the advice, Kirito!"

"…okay, before you keep frying poor Aiko's mind, can I ask you something, Kirito?" intervened Akane before one of her closest friends suffered a mental breakdown. "What now?"

"…eh? What do you mean?"

"Isn't it obvious? You wouldn't have gone ahead with revealing your great secret and turning a bunch of people you barely know into alien hybrids if you didn't have some sort of plan in mind. The Smiling Swordsman that was a bodyguard of the infamous Argo the Rat during the Beta wouldn't be so stupid." declared the girl known mostly as Merida while nodding to herself, sending a kind smile towards their blinking savior. "So, what now? You have some secret base or spaceship waiting for us? Heh, or perhaps we're going to take over the world?"

As she closed her eyes and laughed at her last joke, the leader of the Sleeping Knights realized that something was wrong, given that no one else was laughing. Opening her eyes, she saw what was probably the source of the clear distress among her friends: The clearly panicking expression and wide eyes in the gamer's face, which made her own laughing expression morph into one of horror.

"Ehm…uhm…I…!"

"Wait…you seriously didn't think this at all?! You did it just…because?!"

"I…I really wanted to help you all?"

"I-It's not that we don't appreciate it, Kiri…uhm, Kazuto-san? But, you see…"

"Be blunt with the kid, Siune! We're all half-naked on a roof on the outskirts of Yokohama, with the police and who knows what else looking for us and nowhere to go!"

"…w-we could go to my ho…a-ah, wait…what time it is now?!"

"Ehm…a bit over 1:30, I believe? I think I saw it on the digital clock of a store when we were running towards here…"

"Thanks, Tecchi-san…WUAAH! So late?! A-and I left my phone home because I didn't think it would be out all day! Sugu is going to kill me…and mom too if I don't get back home before she wakes up and realizes I'm not in my room!"

"…is he serious?" expressed Si-eun what everyone was thinking of seeing the panicking boy, acting more like a child than the supposed alien-thing he was.

"Well…it seems this is going to be a long ni…"

"AH! Wait, I got it! I can fix this too!" suddenly shouted Kazuto with a bright look in his once again alien eyes, his gaze shooting over the Sleeping Knights as he once again smiled brightly. "I know where you can stay AND I know who to call to help you all out now too!"

"Re…really?" questioned Aiko with clear doubt, even as the black-haired boy nodded before frowning slightly.

"It's a long way to Tokyo from here, though, all of you are still tired and it's pretty late…" muttered the gamer before nodding with determination. "Okay, there is no other way, I will have to carry you all!"

"Carry…us all?" repeated Akane with clear disbelief, a feeling that most of her friends apparently shared, if their looks were anything to go by. "Uhm, Kiri…Kazuto, I don't think you can just drag us all along, even with your tentacles, without it being too awkward or…"

"Eh? Oh no, not like that! You will just hop into my back so I can carry you!"

"…on your back?" commented Daiki as he looked at the one at his side, Kaito, to exchange an incredulous look. "Uhm, no offense Kirito, but I don't think you're big enough…to…carry…"

Slowly, the boy trailed off, his voice finally dying away while everyone stared, eyes widening and mouths dropping open as the figure before them grew and twisted, losing all resemblance to humanity, most of the group taking terrified steps backward as the now truck-sized abomination towered over them.

A massive eye blinked open among hundreds more, a mouth way too fucking many teeth opening under it into a nightmarish smile, dozens of others spread all across its body not helping in the slightest while countless tentacles waved lazily into the air between a myriad of spikes. Supporting it, two absurdly long limbs ended in wicked claws that must have been some kind of arms hovered sinisterly over the hybrids, each one more than big enough to crush even the tallest of them like an egg without effort, countless other smaller ones apparently serving as legs but positioned in ways that no human mind could biologically make sense of.

 **"Like this, I CAN carry you. And you can grab on my tendrils for support if you need. We will be in Tokyo in no time!"** happily spoke Kazuto, before a thumping sounds made him blink (Which given the number of his eyes was quite terrifying on its own way). **"Why did Siune-san faint?"**

"…she must be tired…" was all that Akane was able to squeak, still staring at the thing before them with fascinated horror.

"That's…terrifyingly cool!" shouted Yuuki before, without a doubt, scrambling towards the alien nightmare, ignoring her sister terrified scream as she jumped on one of his arms and easily climbed to his head, raising her arms as she stood up and a tendril grabbed her hips to stop her from falling. "Guys, this is awesome!"

"…why is my sister so crazy?" lamented Aiko before sighing and walking towards the alien experiment's confused form with a defeated expression.

"…okay, yeah, why not? Everyone, get on the Lusus Naturae." declared Akane while shaking her head and walking to join her 2 closest friends, looking back with a raised eyebrow at seeing the rest of her guild's hesitation. "That is, unless you want to risk walking all the way to Tokyo wearing only those hospital gowns?"

Unsurprisingly, that quickly shifted the group's opinions.

And while these events had been taking place, another quite strange non-native inhabitant of Earth had been having a busy but positive day.

He had finally finished gathering all the 'pieces' he needed from scraps of human technology (Even gotten an old cellphone that still worked from a junkyard!) to start with his 'secret project', had managed to find a tarp big enough to cover the hole in the apartment he previously occupied and even got lucky enough to get his job in the ramen shop back again!

Suffice to say, Waryum the Tryum was feeling particularly content and satisfied with how things were going even as he tried to sleep on the cold ground of another abandoned apartment, covered with just some cheap sheets he had bought recently…until someone started knocking on his door, making his 6 eyes open with annoyance.

"Who the hell comes here at 2 in the morning…?" groaned the alien with annoyance…before his eyes shot wide open with panic. "Wait a minute! No one knows I live here except…"

"Waryum-san!" came the hauntingly familiar voice from beyond the door, confirming the Tryum's worse fears. "Waryum-san, are you there? It's an emergency!"

With a mix of resignation and fear, the scientist walked towards the door, shakily opening in…and coming face to face with X-K0940 and a bunch of other humans.

Some of which were hanging from the ceiling, using a tail to stand on the stairs' edge or showing off a blade-like bone to another one (Probably her sister given their uncanny similarity) and easily impaling it through a wall as if it was made of paper, earning a facepalm from her twin.

All of them turned to look at him with wide eyes the moment the door opened, though, gasps and shocked shouts coming from them

"Holy shit…it's an actual alien!"

"You weren't kidding!"

"Man, that's so cool…and creepy, but still cool!"

"Those 6 legs are awesome! And the eyes too!"

"Hey, hey, can you say something in alien?!"

"So…yeah. It's a long story, but…can my friends stay over for a while? They…kind of need help." explained Kazuto with a blush of embarrassment while looking down, even as Waryum tried to not have a terror-induced breakdown as he stared at the mutated humans. "Also, do you have a phone? I need to call someone to help sort this all out."

Whimpering, the Tryum handed him his phone…

* * *

 _"Friendship is a great power. Especially when you have powerful friends."_ – Anonymous (Keep reading and you will get it).

* * *

Kayaba Akihiko was woken up from his pleasant slumber by the sound of his phone going off beside the bed, making him grunt in annoyance.

Certainly, while it was not strange that someone would call him out of the blue at some unholy hour, the number of times this happened had reduced drastically since the Nerve Gear and SAO had been released, which is why it was only natural for him to feel annoyed at someone calling him at 2:30 in the morning on one of his free days.

Seeing an unknown number in the Caller ID, though, made him frown in confusion as he put the device to his ear, as no one except people from Argus and Rinko had his personal number, with the exception of…

"Kayaba-san, sorry to wake you u…"

"Kirito?! Is that you?! Where are you?!" all but screamed the man while jumping to his feet and tightly gripping the phone. "You rushed out of here without explanation and I know you saw the files of…!"

"Kayaba-san, please, stop!" cut him off the boy with a clearly worried and resigned (?) tone. "I promise I will explain and apologize for everything later, but I really need you to answer something right now. See, because of the Nerve Gear and SAO…you're kind of rich, aren't you?"

"…uhm…yes?" uncertainly answered the man with a raised eyebrow, clearly not having expected such an answer.

Certainly, that declaration was more than an understatement. After all, just by the creation of the Nerve Gear alone, he had gained quite a noticeable amount of wealth, but when the device actually started being sold and Argus started paying him his share of the benefits, he was suddenly among the richest people in Japan, not to mention being lauded worldwide as one of the greatest minds of the century because of his revolution in the field of Virtual Reality starting to branch out into almost literally other field: Robotics, medicine and, as much as he disliked it, military application, though this last one was kept low-profile for now and obviously denied by the government. Then, you added to that the money he had been getting because of Sword Art Online and he had suddenly found himself slowly entering the world of the richest people in the WORLD, and the company he worked for as one of the most powerful ones in Japan.

Of course, given that he had originally intended to use the technology he created and the virtual world within the 'game' to fulfill his dream, before the anomaly known as Kirigaya Kazuto had crashed into his life and 'set his moral compass straight', he had never actually stopped to think about such facts, not to what the hell he would do with so much money and fame. Given the antisocial tendencies he had lived by for most of his life, the latter was more annoying than anything and he was still at a loss about what to do with the former, besides having gotten a better house and car, but only as normal necessities (The fact that his house was a pretty normal and boring one closer to Argus instead of some fancy mansion was more than proof enough of that).

However, what was truly surprising him about this was that, despite being more than sure that the inhuman boy knew this very well, he had never even _hinted_ at bringing it up. Most kids his age that had such emotional pull over someone like him (And there was no denying he had a lot, that was a fool's errand) would have jumped at the chance of asking tons of things, but then again, 'Kirito' wasn't like any normal child in the world.

The fact that he was some sort of discarded alien experiment gone wrong probably had a lot to do with that, but the fact was that his way of seeing the world was too warped. He only cared for the people close to him and anything that caught his 'curiosity', otherwise being oblivious to the world. Kayaba could still remember the first time Yuuna tried talking to him and he all but ignored her until she all but forced him into their first 'singing duel'. Nowadays, the girl was an irreplaceable part of the boy's life.

Even when he had made him gifts for his birthday, he had happily thanked him more for the gesture than the gift itself. Which was why he was truly baffled that he would now ask him about money unless it was for something that…

"Then…do you think you could buy an abandoned apartment building near the outskirts of Tokyo, then have water and energy restored to it? Also some new furniture…ah, and internet connection? A…portable computer would also help. Was that it, Waryum-san?" Kayaba was still too busy blinking in shocked surprise to care when the gamer apparently pushed away to talk to someone else. "Something else, anyone?…oh, clothes, of course, silly me! And…a 70 inches plasma screen TV? Jun-san, Nori-san, this is something serious! Don't try to abuse…!"

"Kazuto." calmly spoke the man while trying to not facepalm, a long sigh escaping his mouth as he felt the boy tensing at his use of his real name. "What exactly did you do?"

"I…I just wanted to help some friends, but I also made things a bit difficult for them without realizing." muttered Kazuto with a low and slightly sad voice. "That's why I want to fix it, but…I know I'm asking a lot, so…"

"Consider it done." interrupted him the creator of SAO with a nonchalant tone, making the gamer gasp in surprise. "But I want a full explanation tomorrow…well, later today, I guess. And I just KNOW it's going to give me a headache."

"Tha-thanks, Akihiko-san, you're the best!" happily shouted the boy with genuine joy, making the man almost freeze in surprise, as he had NEVER used his first name before. "A-and don't worry, I'm trying my best to fix this without putting more people in trouble, I promise!"

"…it's okay, Kirito. I'm sure that, whatever you do, it was with the best intentions in mind." sincerely answered Akihiko with a small smile, a part of him thinking how bizarre it was to say that about what was basically a space horror thinking himself to be a childish teenager. "Care to give me a summary for now at least?"

"I saved the lives of my terminally ill new friends by remaking their bodies and turning them into hybrids of human and my body's biomass!" cheerfully explained Kazuto without missing a beat.

"…Akihiko-san?"

"…sorry, it's just…headache. Also, I called your mother and sister one hour after you left in a frenzy, and Suguha-chan realized you had left your phone home. She also probably called Yuuna-chan soon after."

"…what?" squeaked the suddenly pale boy, but the father of FullDive technology didn't answer and simply finished the call, a slightly smug smile on his face being almost enough to counteract the horrible headache starting to hit him.

Then, the smile vanished when he realized he would probably need to cancel his date with Rinko later that day because of this, and that the woman wasn't going to be happy about it in the slightest.

"Goddammit, Kirito…"

Meanwhile, Waryum the Tryum blinked and stopped looking at the excited/resigned/curious hybrids walking through 'his' apartment as a trembling gamer walked closer to him, still gripping his phone tightly but with a haunted expression on his face.

"…X-K…uhm, Kazuto…you okay?"

"I'm SO dead when I get home…" muttered the boy with a shaky voice before taking a deep breath and looking back to the alien, giving him a shaky nod. "Yeah, it's a problem of mine…anyway, I made the arrangements! Hopefully them, and you too, will get this place much more…'comfortable' to stay."

"I can't believe you not only know Kayaba freaking Akihiko, but also are in good enough terms with him to ask for…all of that." muttered Si-eun with wide eyes, sitting on a half-broken couch.

"Well, I myself can't believe we're going to stay over with a real alien!" expressed Nobu with a grin before looking at the tarp covering part of the roof. "Also, what happened up there?"

"I accidentally broke through it when Waryum-san kidnapped me the first time we met." explained Kazuto while walking past the group and biting his lips as he typed another number on the phone, ignoring the gaping looks he was getting or how the aforementioned Tryum facepalmed. "And once again…sorry for all of this, everyone. I know I should have thought things more thoroughly, but I just really wanted to…!"

"Kirito, please, stop." stopped him Akane with a serious look, getting everyone's attention as she took a deep breath. "Yeah, maybe this isn't exactly a fairy tale's ending…but we're all alive, we're going to LIVE our lives completely thanks to you…and that's something I don't think we could have even dreamed of before tonight. For that, I'm forever grateful to you…and also partially to blame for this. I mean, I _could_ have stopped you instead of letting you go and 'save' the others, but…"

"Tha-that's not true, Merida-san! After all, I was the one who changed you without asking permission first and…!"

"You DID ask for permission to heal me, and I _did_ give it to you, remember? Sure, I didn't know what it would entail, but given the alternative…"

"But if I hadn't…!"

"…woah, look at them go." whispered Aiko with wide eyes while watching the verbal exchange as if entranced. "It's almost like a tennis match of who takes the blame…"

"…none of us is really blaming them, though, right?" spoke Yuuki what everyone was thinking, getting affirmations or simple nods from all around, making the arguing pair blink and look at them.

"Everyone…"

"Yo-you really aren't…?"

"Kiri… Kazuto-kun, it's just as Merida said. We may not have exactly wished for this situation, but you DID fulfill your impossible promise when giving us the option." sincerely spoke Si-eun with a soft smile. "Yesterday, we all thought we would die too early in our lives and that there was nothing we could do about it. Now, though…we have our entire lives before us, and it's all thanks to you. So, truly, from the bottom of our hearts…thanks."

"Yeah…thank you, Kirito."

"You're awesome, man!"

"Hell yeah! You're even getting use a place to stay and stuff to make it comfortable for free!"

"Yes! Even if you're a giant alien with lots of eyes and tentacles!"

"Nori, that was mean…"

"I think even his alien form is cool! Also, riding on his back was a blast! And his tentacles were very comfortable when they kept us from falling!"

"Yuu, please, don't say those things out loud…"

"Guys…thanks." happily answered the black-haired boy before an uncharacteristically determined expression appeared on his face as he raised the hand with the phone in a half-closed fist. "But I'm not done yet! Not until I deal with all the consequences of what I did to help you, and that includes your families!"

 _Everyone_ in the room tensed at that. Obviously, the trip from Yokohama to Tokyo hadn't been spent in total silence. Instead, they had ended up asking a bit about Kazuto's life, and the alien abomination they had been riding on happily gave them a summary of it while also explaining where they were going. Through it all, they had been unable to not start opening up to fill the conversation from their side, so it was inevitable that, once he brought the subject of his family, they had ended up mentioning theirs in passing too.

How Yuuki and Aiko's aunt had been coming to visit them less and less, but that they didn't resent her for that. How An Si-eun's brother had brought her a delicious tea last week. How Merida's parents had made her a special cake the other day for no other reason than to see her smile…and the inhuman boy had taken more than enough notice of how they felt while saying those things.

Maybe the strange creature named Kirigaya Kazuto, or X-K0940, could be called too naïve or innocent about many things, but he was certainly not stupid, and he had a scary amount of empathy that came straight out of his inhuman nature. Especially if it was something related to 'family', probably the thing he valued above everything else.

Which was why he knew that even the younger of the Sleeping Knights felt conflicted and scared at one simple and probably obvious realization: For everyone's sake, it would be better if their families didn't know what had happened to them. Even if that meant that they could never see them again, and let them suffer by thinking they had been kidnapped or worse…

And now, it was more than obvious that the gamer didn't plan for things to be that way, but…

"You're being stupid!" growled Waryum while boldly walking before Kazuto, his self-preservation overridden momentarily thanks to his disbelief/anger. "Do you have any idea of what may happen if you involve that many normal humans in this?! Forget them, you more than risk exposing YOUR true nature to the world, and that could only end up in a catastrophe!"

"…even so, I have to try. It's my responsibility for changing them."

"Kirito, we already told you that…"

"No, Merida-san, please don't lie." interrupted the black-haired boy with a smile, making the young girl bite her lips. "I know none of you would really be okay with doing that to your families. And I don't want you or them to suffer through that for the rest of your lives!"

"Well, tell me then, genius: HOW are you planning on 'fixing' that particular mess without making it even worse?!" challenged the Tryum while crossing his arms.

"…by calling the most expert person in the world in weird, crazy and unexpected things like this!" replied the gamer before, quickly, dialing a number on the phone (Probably about to exhaust whatever credit was left in Waryum cheap pre-paid phone card) and putting it on a speaker, making everyone blink. "They must still be up working!"

"Wait, you seriously know someone like that?"

"Fo-forget that, human…well, hybrid! It's almost 3 in the morning, Kazuto! Who the hell do you know that is going to be awake you at this…?!"

"Uh? Who is this? How did you get this number?!" came an annoyed and young female voice from the phone, making the hybrids and the full alien exchange confused looks. "Do you have any idea of what time it…?!"

"Shino-san, it's an emergency, and I knew you would still be awake, working on that latest Investigation Project of yours." cut her off Kazuto with an urgent tone, making the girl gasp. "I need your help!"

"Ka-Kazuto?! Wait a minute!" the sounds of papers being moved and a portable computer being closed were heard before the Asada Shino's voice echoed again, apparently now giving the boy her full attention. "What's going on?"

"I need your help to find a way to get the families of a bunch of formerly terminally ill people I turned into alien hybrids to save, in contact with them again, while making sure they don't freak out and that there is a way to convince them it's for their sake to not scream about my existence." summarized the black-haired boy with a straight face, everyone gaping at him at the sheer absurdity of what he had just said, expecting to hear some screams or laughs of indignation from the line.

However…

"…woah…can I see the alien hybrids?!" came an extremely excited answer from the bespectacled girl.

Everyone deadpanned at the phone.

"If it's okay with them…" commented the gamer while looking at the people in the room, who gave hesitant nods after some dumbfounded seconds. "They're okay with it! They will be staying with Waryum-san in Tokyo, so…"

"The Tryum?! Does that mean I finally will get to see it too?! Consider me on this case with my full attention, you crazy alien experiment!" happily answered Shino with an excited tone. "I'm calling Silica as soon as I'm done, we will have to put an all-nighter just to gather the basic info! Later!"

"Ah, wa…she hung up. Dammit, I didn't think of that…she's going to work poor Keiko-chan to exhaustion…" sighed Kazuto while lowering the phone and handing it back to the stunned Waryum before giving out a reassuring smile to the Sleeping Knights. "But don't worry, if anyone can figure this out, it's Shino-san! She's a maniac about all these crazy alien things and how people view them!"

"…why are all the humans you know such a bunch of lunatics? Seriously…I work in Akihabara and I have seen way saner people there than those who surround you…"

"…she didn't sound that much older than me…"commented Akane with a blank expression, trying very hard to ignore what the alien had just said. "…what was she working on at this hour again?"

"Oh, I think a report about me and the things she noted down when I told my friends what Waryum-san revealed to me the day he kidnapped me and…"

"Kazuto, can we please go talk in the kitchen?!" quickly spoke Waryum while grabbing the boy's shoulder, making him blink as he dragged him away towards the aforementioned (And currently barely usable) area of the apartment. "You all feel as if you're in your own home!"

With that declaration, the alien closed the slightly damaged door leading into the kitchen, leaving behind a group of confused hybrids while he turned around to grab the confused alien experiment by the shoulders.

"Is something wrong, Waryum-san?"

"It's something…?! Do you have any idea of what you're doing?! Are you really being serious with this, X-K0940?!" half-shouted the Tryum while trying to not actually scream, least the Sleeping Knights barged in to see what was wrong. "Have you even truly considered all the fucking risks you're going through for a bunch you didn't even know two days ago?!"

"But…I want to help them. It's the right thing to…"

"Don't give me that bullshit!" cut him off Waryum with an uncharacteristically angry tone, making the gamer freeze in surprise. "If THAT was your real reason you wouldn't have bothered with them! You went to all their hospitals, right?! And all of them were in their ICU, I bet…why the hell didn't you 'save' everyone else in there if you were doing it out of the goodness of your heart?! EH?! Because…because…! Oh…Fate…" slowly, the alien let go of the silent boy, as if just realizing something at the same time he remembered at WHAT he was screaming. "You only did it…because they befriended you…right?"

"…they're good people…none of them deserved what they were going through…but yes, you're right. I wanted to help them as soon as I knew the truth because they were nice to me…and to Asuna. Because they became our friends. And just imagining how sad I, or her, would be when they died…I already went through that with my grandfather. I don't…I don't think I could ever go through the same again…" slowly, Kazuto's face rose from where he had been looking at the ground since the Tryum's rant started, making him cringe at seeing his real eyes staring back at him, the black veins on them pulsing ominously as red tears threatened to spill from them. "I…I know you may think it's stupid…or dangerous…but I really want to help them, Waryum-san…I know it's selfish, but…isn't being selfish part of being human?"

 _The image of a certain man in a hood and with a coffin-tattoo appeared on his mind, telling him how they were alike…_

Innocent. Too innocent. Nice. _Too nice_. Once again, the former keeper was forced to accept that the creature he had once studied had become something extremely terrifying, not only in the physical but even more in the psychological sense: A human that was _too good_ for their species. Who ran mainly on positive emotions and a childish view of the world, who got emotionally hurt easily and that had not an actual ounce of ill will in him…and that had the power to wipe out all life on the planet in _days_ if someone or something ever pushed him over the edge.

X-K0940. Kirigaya Kazuto. A ticking 'bomb' that, one way or another, would end up exploding in a horrifying way, that Waryum was sure of, even if not a single one of the people surrounding him seemed to realize. One day, maybe tomorrow or maybe in 30 years, something would make him snap and then they would all be lucky if they could scream before dying…or worse.

And yet…there was only one possible way that one could react to his current state, and also the only way that the Tryum knew would 'help' everyone at all. Even if, in the long run, it was only delaying the inevitable.

Despite this, the alien didn't hesitate in sighing and leaning down, closing his arms around the surprised boy and giving him a very awkward and sloppy hug.

"Okay…just, calm down, okay, Kazuto? I know you mean well…but you need to think things through more thoroughly before you do them, okay? You're not like any other person on this planet, so, please…be more aware of that."

"…I will! I promise I will, Waryum-jii!"

For a moment, Waryum felt something within him twist painfully at the cheerful way in which he said his name like that, the 'code' that was hidden within a wall on the far end of the same room they were in right then almost seeming to stare at him with damning judgment.

And yet, he steeled himself and simply patted Kazuto's head, slowly letting go of him.

"That's good to know…also, you may want to go home before your family gets even madder with you."

As he saw the face of what was probably the worst monster his species had ever created and at the same time the nicest human being Earth had ever seen grow horrified at the thought of his 'mother' and 'sister' scolding, Waryum the Tryum couldn't help but laugh within his mind.

Truly, they only had themselves to blame if this ended as badly as he thought it would.

But well, it wasn't as if anyone was already on their trail for this, right?

"…serial kidnapping with no apparent reason except that the patients were all terminally ill. Many could attribute this to something dark, but…as you know, we have found things others don't: All of the disappeared patients were part of a 'guild' called 'Sleeping Knights' in the VRMMORPG Sword Art Online."

"I see…that seems more than just a simple coincidence…so, I was called to look deeper into this, right?"

"Indeed, lieutenant colonel. You're currently the one with most experience in this 'field' within our ranks. Can I count on you?"

Standing firm, Kikuoka Seijirou saluted.

"You most certainly can, my general."

* * *

 _"There is nothing wrong with wanting to help people."_ – Emiya Shirou (You can kinda see where these quotes are going, can't you?).

* * *

Munching calmly on his sandwich as he stared at the setting sun while sitting on the rooftop of his new high school, Kirigaya Kazuto let out a soft sigh as he lowered his gaze to look at the students walking back home now that the day was over, except for the few that already had joined a club.

It had been almost 2 weeks since the whole ordeal with the Sleeping Knights, and things had been 'hectic', to say the least.

The group of hybrids had adapted to their new 'home' very fast, and when the things that Akihiko had promised had started to arrive, barely one day after the call, things had become even better. Sure, a couple of them still had freak outs from time to time when they accidentally lost control of their new anatomies, but, for the most part, they had been adapting pretty well to the fact that they were being flatmates with an alien. He had gone to visit them yesterday and the previously abandoned apartment building was already looking like a comfy and happy place to live in.

He couldn't believe they actually got that plasma TV, though. The boy had been convinced Akihiko would realize it was a joke, but Nori and Jun (Asami and Daiki, that is…he still wasn't used to their real names) were enjoying it a lot, so he supposed it wasn't that much of a problem.

They had also gotten brand new Nerve Gears. The gamer had been slightly surprised by that (Though not as much as the open-mouthed Sleeping Knights when they received them), but he understood it was an act of specific kindness from Akihiko's part: They were all forced to keep a low profile in reality for now, and could barely even get out of the building without risking suspicion (The news were still ablaze with the 'Mysterious Serial Kidnapping' of several patients from different hospitals), but in Aincrad they could still have all the freedom they wished for as their virtual-selves.

On a side note, it was kind of ironic that the one who actually was a 6-legged and 6-eyed alien all the time was probably the one that could come and go without raising any suspicion at all.

Then…there was his family.

Barely suppressing a shiver, Kazuto remembered the moment he had returned home and found both his mother and Suguha waiting for him. They had spent quite a few moments fuzzing over him in worry before Midori announced he was grounded for a week and his adoptive sister complained about how he had promised coming back right away. That was the moment he had to explain everything.

By the end of it, his time grounded had increased to a month and he had to prevent his mother from having a breakdown right there, with the help of a slightly annoyed but way more understanding Sugu (Which had seemed to freak out Midori a bit more). In the end, he had managed to convince her there was no danger and that he had only tried to help people he thought he could save, not to mention that the outcome wasn't one he had planned in the first place.

She had still made him bring her to where the group of hybrids lived that weekend (Much to Waryum's chagrin) and apologized on his behalf to all of them for _'The problems my son has brought you'_. They had all surprisingly panicked, even Nobu and Si-eun, and quickly assured her that they were nothing but grateful towards him for saving their lives.

That day, when returning home, as he sat in silence in the shotgun seat of his mother's car, she had looked at him with a complex expression and told him something that still warmed his heart.

 _"Kazuto…you did a good thing. I'm proud of you. But…please, don't do it again, okay?"_

One could almost say that nothing could dampen his mood, not even the fact that he hadn't made a single friend since entering his new High School (As usual, everyone in his class seemed to think he was weird or something like that and actively avoided him)…except the fact that he had felt 'something' very weird around him lately.

Namely, since the day after he helped the Sleeping Knights, he had noticed that Suguha had been slightly more reserved around him, and more than once he could swear she was avoiding him for some unknown reason. Yuuna had been acting the same, for some reason, and even asking Asuna yesterday had given him no answers, though she had promised she would ask to see if the girls told her the reason of their strange attitude.

Between school and helping out the group of hybrids he had made, though, he knew very well it could have been just a "girls' thing", nothing serious at all…but he wasn't so sure. He knew his little sister and his best friend very well, and something within him was telling him something was worrying them a lot, even if they seemingly refused to tell him what…

Blinking as his mouth closed around empty air, the boy realized that he had just finished his fourth, and last, sandwich. With a sigh, he stood up, shaking the crumbles off his uniform as he looked at the sky once more. Maybe he should choose a club to join already, but he just didn't seem especially interested in any (Not to mention that he couldn't join any sports-related Club for obvious reasons). Besides, he wasn't sure if…

A disturbance coming from down below, that he only picked because of his inhumanly sharp senses, made Kazuto stop and look down, a frown adorning his usually smiling face.

There were a couple of second-year girls surrounding a third one, who looked to be a first year like he was, and she didn't seem too pleased about the situation.

"Hey, freshman! What's with the flashy dyed hair? Trying to say you're better than the rest?"

"It's…not dyed hair, it's my natural color." softly answered the girl with bright silvery-brown hair and similar eyes, looking uncomfortable as she tried to move past the pair, only for the second girl to block her way, almost making her stumble back…without touching her. "Wa-wah! Watch out, se-sempai!"

"Eh?" was all that the second girl could say before both of them watched spectacularly how the first year managed the surprising feet of tripping over her own feet by doing nothing and slam face-first on the ground. "…is this girl for real? I mean…no one can be THAT…"

"Pathetic?" finished the first girl as they watched the freshman twitch on the ground and assure them she was okay. "…okay, screw it, let's just go home, this is making me feel bad…"

With those words said, both second years walked away, not even bothering to look back as the bright-haired girl awkwardly sat up.

"See? I'm okay…oh, they're gone." muttered the first year before shrugging and looking down at her skirt, pouting as she did so. "Ah, damn, I got dirt all over me again…"

"Hey, need a hand?" asked a gentle voice as a hand appeared in her range of vision, making her look up in shock to see a fellow freshman offering her a hand, with the friendliest and most innocent smile she had ever seen. "I'm Kirigaya Kazuto!"

"Ka-Kashiwazaka Hiyori…" stammered the girl as he helped her up and dusted some dirt from her uniform, her eyes never leaving him as if he was the biggest mystery in the world. "…say…Kazuto-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"…weren't you up in the rooftop like 20 seconds ago?"

The boy's smile froze while Hiyori tilted her head to the side, curiosity shining within her bright eyes.

"Ehm…n-no, I wasn't."

"But…I saw you up there just as I fell down."

Another few seconds of silence passed between the unblinking girl and the now unusually nervous gamer.

"O-oh, look at the time, I gotta get home! Bye-bye, Hiyori-san, see you tomorrow!" quickly shouted Kazuto before dashing away as fast as I could without it seeming inhuman…but still way faster than any boy his age and apparent constitution should be able to.

Staring in the direction the boy had rushed off to, Kashiwazaka Hiyori blinked several times with a mix of wonder and confusion.

"…he seems like a nice person." commented the girl before staring at her hand with a curious expression, something between a smile and a look of wistfulness on her face. "…did I just make a friend?"

Meanwhile, the gamer was already a couple of streets away from his school, taking a deep breath as he calmed down.

Damn, that had been too close. He had been worried when it seemed those 2 older girls were bullying the last one, Hiyori, so he had made sure no one was around watching before half-climbing/half-throwing himself off the rooftop to help her. He certainly wasn't expecting for both girls to be gone when he finally got down, nor that she would have noticed his impossible stunt after he helped her up.

Kazuto had promised his parents he wouldn't do 'weird' things that could risk exposing himself to others and more recently reinforced that with a new promise to his mother. He shouldn't have been so careless, but seeing her being treated like that just because of being different had made him react almost without…

Suddenly, the boy's train of thought was interrupted when a fancy-looking car stopped just beside him, making him blink as one of the doors opened, the man sitting in the backseat offering him a kind smile.

"Hello there! It's been some time since we last saw each other, eh?"

The gamer, for his part, just tilted his head in confusion, before a spark of recognition finally hit him as he pointed towards the bespectacled man.

"Ah…I know you! Sugou-san, right? You're…Asuna's fiancée…" remembered Kazuto with a small frown, wondering what the angry feeling in his chest at remembering that bit of info was.

"Why, yes, that's me! We haven't seen each other since that day in Kayaba's lab, right, Kirigaya Kazuto-kun? Fancy meeting you here, going back home from school." smiled Sugou Nobuyuki with apparent gentleness, before patting the seat beside him. "Want me to give you a ride home? You must be exhausted!"

His eyes never leaving the man he had never told his real name to…the black-haired boy smiled and nodded.

"Sure! I don't see why not!"

"…excellent." grinned the man while the gamer happily boarded his car, gesturing his driver to start the engine while he turned to look down at the smiling boy. "Can I offer you something to drink while we go?"

The door ominously closed behind Kazuto's honest _'Thanks!'_ while Sugou chuckled sinisterly.

Somewhere within the cosmos, within a tank in a spaceship's lab, a certain alien experiment shook in her dreams…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Gasp! Cliffhanger! How horrible! What terrible things may Sugou be about to do to poor, defenseless Kazuto :D?!

…yeah, that's going to end not much different than how it did in canon. Only, you know, probably more traumatic. Explanations as for what is happening, though, next chapter!

And so, the Sleeping Knights fully become part of this mad plot. Also, they're staying with everyone's favorite alien! Can Waryum survive the weird sitcom his life is seemingly about to become? Who knows!

Hope that the more 'serious' parts of the chapter felt 'right' in the way I intended them. I mean, you have to remember, this story is a strange mix, just like how I have it tagged 'Humor/Horror'. Its overall idea is crack, what with how the interactions and nature of Kazuto are taken in a very comical way for all that happens, but the 'horror' part, besides the obvious Eldritch Abomination vibe, comes from how the 'silliness' in his life comes because his view of the world is so warped and, indirectly, has warped that of those around him, his family being the most obvious examples because they raised/grew with him (Sugu is obvious, while Midori…well, I think no normal mother would take so 'well' and so fast knowing that her son turned a bunch of terminally ill people into half-aliens, even if he did it to save their lives), and Waryum reacting to his 'madness' by trying to be supportive, half because he truly pities Kazuto's view of life and half out of fear of what may happen if (Though for him it's just a matter of 'when') he snaps.

Consequences may be deeper than he thinks, though, because everyone's favorite bespectacled government agent is on the case! Also, Sinon (And her dear and totally willing helper Silica) has a mission now, so expect to see more of them soon. Next chapter we will also get to see Sugu and Yuuna 'talking' about 'you know what', and maybe even Asuna, so expect some frustration and anger, probably misdirected…

Oh, and how many of you noticed how the narrative changed to refer to Kayaba by his first name when Kirito started doing so :3? Also, we got a Lux, from SAO Girls Ops, cameo! For those who didn't know, Kashiwazaka Hiyori is her IRL name (Though she's stuck in her 'clumsy yet positive' persona because, you know, in this Universe she never went through the bittersweet shit which happened to her in SAO). But will she stick around? Who knows…

One last thing, in case people didn't notice: Only Merida and Clovis' real names are inventions of mine; for the rest of the Sleeping Knights' names I used their original voice actors', like I did with Argo and Sachi in One Punch-Gamer O,O

That said, though, I shall leave you all with today's Omake. Have fun with it!

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 5: Be amazed, Lonely Little Witch!**

As she saw the 3 lizardmen stalking ominously towards them, the 11-year-old girl with the pointy hat and cape hiding behind a fearful but determined Akashiya Moka trembled in guilt and panic.

Sendou Yukari barely resisted the urge to cry, her eyes flickering to the destroyed remains of her magic wand that she still held tightly in her hands, totally useless.

All of this was her fault, and she had only made things a horrible mess without even wanting to.

Things had started seemingly like normal the day before when the results of the midterm exams had been posted and she had walked towards the board to see them.

As expected, she had been at the very top, graded 1st Place of the entire school. Then again, given that she was such a prodigy that she had skipped enough grades to already be in the first year of High School at her age, this wasn't a surprise in the slightest. If there was anything Yukari could pride herself in, it was her genius intellect.

…it was also the only thing she had, though. Being a witch, a being that was looked down even among other monsters because of being 'too human', and that the humans had feared since immemorial times (One only needed to look back at the times of the Witch Hunts to know it), she had been alone for most of her life.

Never any friend. Never a kind soul offering something positive to her. Aside from her parents, she had no one else in the world…

And then, she had seen HER.

Akashiya Moka, the most beautiful girl in the school, also the kindest one she had ever seen, ranked 13th in the midterms and known as the most beautiful girl in all of Youkai Academy.

Smart, kind and beautiful, all in a single dream-like girl. Just from this, Yukari's heart fluttered every time she saw her, but that day, when she had protected her from her horrible class representative and his cronies (Who just SO happened to be the same lizardmen about to kill them right now) as they engaged in their typical witch-hate against her, making her answer in kind with her magic, the witch's heart had made her decision.

She loved Akashiya Moka, and she was going to make sure they were together forever!

There was only ONE 'problem' with that, though, one that had appeared soon after her beloved had saved her from those bullies, asking if they were okay and introducing himself with a happy smile.

Kirigaya Kazuto. Ranked SECOND in the midterms, the supposedly smartest person in the entire school after her, exceptional in PE and notorious for having been seen with Moka every day since the term began.

An unparalleled rival, a threat to her dream of being happy with her beloved Moka and one that, honestly, Yukari couldn't see herself surpassing…but the witch wouldn't give up! After all, all was fair in love and war!

First, she had started with a direct confession of her feelings for Moka, right on his face! Sadly, it hadn't had the effect she would have wished for, what with her beloved pink-haired angel only seeming troubled and the boy seemingly confused. Not even molesting her in front of him seemed to elicit more than a blush and giggles from him, as if he thought it was just a joke! Then, she had decided to declare an all-out war against him for the right of being with Moka!

His only answer had been _"But, I'm Moka's friend! Of course I want to be with her. Wouldn't you want that too? Why would that be a problem?"_ , which had made Yukari almost reel in disbelief. No one could be THAT innocent, after all, right? Deciding it had been nothing more than an attempt to confuse her, she had unleashed her awesome powers against him for the whole day!

…with no effect whatsoever. He would just keep walking happily when objects fell down on his head, usually said objects being the ones that ended up damaged instead of him. When cleaning instruments tried attacking him, he would just stand there and watch in awe as they moved around in the air and ineffectively tried to beat the shit out of him, saying how cool her magic was. He was freaking _praising_ her for her seemingly useless attempts! What the hell?! Was he looking down on her that much?!

With that train of thought, the young witch had set off to bring out her 'big guns', and what better way to do so than taking advantage of her 'rival' and Kurono Kurumu being alone talking in one classroom after school? After all, she knew it all about the voluptuous and dumb succubus, and how she was clearly interested in Kazuto, always following him around almost as much as Moka, only hindered by the fact that they were in different classes. And so, while overhearing their conversation (Which annoyingly enough seemed to include the black-haired boy saying how amazing and funny her magic was), she had prepared her dear 'Warawara-kun' (Aka her homemade voodoo doll) and proceeded to enact her perfect plan: she had gotten her dear Moka to be heading that way at the right moment, and she would have her cacth Kazuto doing unspeakably perverted things to the air-headed Kurumu, totally destroying any respect she had for him! With those thoughts in mind, she had readied the spell-bound doll and started her plan…

And that was when everything went wrong.

At first, everything seemed to be going smoothly: She got the startled boy to launch himself face-first at the succubus' chest (Not that she seemed to mind much) and had been ready to keep going when he had SCREAMED in abject fear, almost paralyzing her in shock.

She had barely started moving his other arm (Having vaguely intended him to lift the girl's skirt) when she had seen said arm stop and all but MELT into liquid black flesh that seemed to compress upon itself, much to Kurumu's terror as she shouted the boy's name and he just screamed again, saying he couldn't control his body.

Yukari had never seen anyone looking so utterly terrified in her life. Kazuto's suddenly inhuman eyes, probably a testament to his true form, were filled with such terror and despair that she had let go of her doll with nerveless fingers before even realizing it.

The next moment, as soon as he had realized he could move by himself again, the black-haired boy had bolted from his spot and broken through the window, just above where the young witch had been hidden, and then ran towards the woods, ignoring how Moka (Who had just entered the room) screamed his name in worry before demanding what had happened of Kurumu.

When they had, obviously, set out to try and find him, the two girls had seen her, her hat covered in glass fragments and just staring in the direction the boy had vanished to.

The succubus had been immediately suspicious of her, demanding what had she done, when she herself wasn't sure of it. But her beloved Moka, bless her heart, had defended her, then asked if she was okay and if she knew which direction Kazuto had run off to.

Yukari had joined them in their search, of course. After all, the look in his eyes was engraved into her mind, almost haunting her, like an endless voice whispering that it had been _her_ who had made someone feel such terror and despair.

When it became obvious they wouldn't find him that day, night having fallen, the witch's guilt had grown tenfold, especially at seeing the devastated looks in her beloved and the succubus' faces.

She was barely able to sleep at all because that image and the memory of Kazuto's scared eyes would come back for her. And so, as soon as it was time for classes, she had headed into the forest, ready to skip as many lessons as needed until he found the boy…and begged for his forgiveness, she supposed.

The young girl certainly wasn't expecting to be ambushed by her class representative and his 2 followers again, who this time revealed themselves as lizardmen and quickly left her defenseless by biting off the top of her magic wand. They were even discussing how they were going to _eat her_ …when Moka had appeared out of nowhere, apparently having been worried when not only Kazuto but SHE as well didn't show up to school, and come looking for them.

Yukari had tried to make her beloved see reason, to have her run away because they only wanted her, but the pink-haired girl had denied her. Then, she had spoken with that kindness of her, about how she understood her pain, her loneliness, about how she had been the same for a long time before coming to Youkai and meeting Kazuto. How she knew that all the little witch's 'pranks' were nothing but a desperate cry for attention, of making the world that didn't care for her to acknowledge her existence.

She had felt like crying once again, even more when Moka had tried to get her away but had shown being no match for the speed of the lizardmen, and now was determined to stand before Yukari to shield her from harm. Now, both of them were going to die and it would all be her fault.

Finally, tears fell down Sendou Yukari's face as she sobbed on the pink-haired girl's arm, even as the 3 reptilian monsters took their sweet time in approaching their cornered preys.

"I'm sorry, Moka-san! Sniff, and…I wish I could have also…told him that I was…sorr…!"

A loud sound echoed through the forest before something fell from the heavens and slammed between the two girls and 3 approaching lizardmen, freezing everyone in their tracks.

Slowly, as if deliberately dramatic, a figure rose from the crater created by his impact…

"Fear not…for **I Am Here!** " heroically proclaimed Kirigaya Kazuto while raising his right arm (Once again perfectly fine-looking, if lacking all of his uniform's sleeve) before suddenly breaking into a giddy chuckle. "Man, that was one of the things I have always wanted to say in a proper context!"

"Yo-you…" muttered a shocked Yukari as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Ka-Kazuto!" shouted Moka with utter relief, her face reflecting pure joy upon seeing the black-haired boy unharmed. "You're okay!"

"Yeah, of course I am!" answered the gamer with his usual smile while turning towards them, totally ignoring the wide-eyed lizardmen. "Sorry about worrying you, Moka…I ki-kinda fell asleep in the forest after running for a couple hours…"

"…what." deadpanned the young witch, as if unable to believe what she was hearing.

"You fell…asleep…?" muttered the vampire with equal disbelief.

"So-sorry, it's just that, when I stopped freaking out I hid inside a tree to make sure I wasn't really going to lose control again…and I kind of dozed off there. When I woke up it was already morning and I was hurrying to classes when I heard Yukari-chan crying…" as he said those words, the boy's eyes drifted towards the aforementioned girl, who froze under his gaze, as if expecting scorn or hate…only to receive another smile. "Hey, Yukari-chan? It's okay. I get you now."

"Wha…what…?" whispered Yukari with a diminutive voice.

"You're scared. SO scared it's not even funny…you're scared of loneliness, right? You have been alone for so long, but you still fear the loneliness filling your life. That…must be something horrible." declared Kazuto while closing his eyes, suddenly looking quite serious. "I can't say I understand how you feel. That would be lying. After all, all my life I have had a caring family that didn't mind what I was despite being humans, friends that accepted me and that understood me, people that supported me along the way…But, I know one thing for certain. That imagining even one single day without them would be the most terrifying thing I could ever think of."

"Kazuto…" spoke Moka while feeling her heart clenching, wondering why she felt a half-forgotten longing in her heart at those words, as if something she didn't know was forgetting.

"Do you know why I ran away yesterday? Because I thought I was losing control…and that's something that terrifies me. After all, despite how long it took me, I realized some time ago that I'm very different to everyone I care for." confessed the boy while looking at the morning sky, his eyes seeming sad all of a sudden. "They're all so dear to me, but…so fragile. It would take nothing of what almost everyone in this school can do to cripple them or worse, while I…sometimes feel that, if I wasn't careful enough…could crush everything around me as if it was glass…"

Suddenly, every single person there felt IT. As if the shadows around the boy had become more ominous, as if his presence suddenly had become that of something that _did not belong_ among them while he slowly turned around, regarding the 3 lizardmen with his inhuman eyes.

"Ku-kuh…!"

"Wha-what's with this guy, boss?!"

"Hi-his presence is terrifying…what monster are you?!"

"Heh…I'm Kirigaya Kazuto. A Lusus Naturae." kindly explained the boy while waving at them. "Nice to meet you."

Moka blinked in surprise, being the first time she heard her best friend's 'species', but not recognizing it in the slightest.

Yukari didn't either, but she was smart enough to know what those Latin words meant: Freak of Nature.

Any ominous chill she was feeling at that thought washed away when he sent a sideway look towards them, smiling softly and giving them a thumbs up.

"You…"

"Don't worry, I got this." assured him while turning towards the tense lizardmen, who were looking at him with their teeth bared. "I don't suppose you will just forget this whole thing and walk away without threatening my friends, right?"

For all answer, the reptilian monsters roared and charged, making Kazuto sigh.

Of course, he could easily dispatch of the 3 students before him without much effort. They didn't even have super speed or something flashy like that going for them like Gin-sempai had.

…but doing that would achieve nothing. After all, there was a little girl behind him that was feeling emotionally confused and that had lost her way in life. She urgently needed something that was very difficult to get: Hope. Hope that she could have a better life and be accepted by others without fear.

Yui-chan would have told him that she needed several sessions with an expert psychologist to get over such a thing, but he, obviously, knew better.

All that was needed was an action, bright and inspiring enough to reach such an effect. Anime had taught him that.

He had already delivered a speech from the bottom of his heart, so all that remained now…was the true final touch.

In one swift move, he raised his right arm, letting it grow, the skin blackening and hardening until the limb was bigger than him and had an almost 'mechanical' look to it, everyone's eyes widening at the apparently impossible feat

And that's when he started to _Shout_.

"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power!" roared the boy to the heavens as, effectively, his mutated hand started to 'glow' with an ominous red and yellow shine. "Its burning grip tells me to DEFEAT YOU!"

Everyone's mouth dropped open, the lizardmen feeling as if dread was filling them while the girls felt utter awe when a strange 'aura' seemed to surround Kazuto, as if a burning power was enveloping his body.

Yukari felt her eyes shine as she stared at his back, something within her shaking at the sight and the words.

They were so random. So unexpectedly out of nowhere. So senseless.

And yet, they were filling her with a sense of euphoria the likes she had never experienced before.

 _"That boy…he is…!"_

"TAKE THIS! MY LOVE, MY ANGER, AND ALL OF MY SORROW!" screamed the black haired boy as he catapulted himself towards the terrified reptilian monsters, all their instincts now screaming at them to run and not look back, which they promptly tried to do…too late. **"SHINING** **FINGER!"**

Now then…luckily for every single being that would dare to threaten his loved ones (And in this Universe that list was quite a big number), the alien experiment X-K0490 could not, in fact, replicate the special technique of the 'Shining Gundam'.

…unluckily for them, however, the denominated 'Blazing Heat Bomb' that a certain insectoid creature of the planet the Tryum classified as Uniperum-D78 could produce on its abdomen, and that he had enlarged to fit in the palm of an arm the size of one of the aforementioned mecha's (When the original insect was the size of an adult's closed fist and had more than enough power to blow up a reinforced steel door), was a damn good, and probably more destructive, substitute. In fact, the 'aura' surrounding him was because of all the heat being produced through his mutated limb, so hot it was making the earth around him crackle.

Luckily, he seemed to judge that it wouldn't really be a good idea to try and crush the head of one of the running monsters with it, so he settled in slamming his 'shining finger' on the ground behind their retreating forms.

The resulting explosion was still powerful enough to throw Moka and Yukari on their asses and blow away their hair/hat from the heat produced, the 3 lizardmen flying away while shrouded in flames, thankfully falling into one of the many and conveniently placed swamps that filled the forests around Youkai.

Gingerly, Kazuto stood up from the MASSIVE crater his 'trick' had created, looking at what remained of his now destroyed arm before shrugging and turning it back to normal.

As he turned around and saw the smiling form of Moka rushing towards him with open arms (Not caring to have to jump into the crater to do so), the bright-eyed form of Yukari not far behind, he realized it had been more than worth it.

"Justice has prevailed."

From the swamp, one of the half-dead lizardmen gurgled.

Later that day, on the Newspaper's club's clubroom…Kurono Kurumu watched with a twitching eyebrow how a happy little witch hung from her Destined One's back as he finished telling everything that had happened.

"It seems that you had…quite the hectic morning." summarized the succubus while cursing not having been present to see her beloved doing what both her rival and the little annoyance were recalling as something beyond amazing. "And…what exactly is she doing here?"

"I have joined the Newspaper's Club, of course!" happily replied Yukari while looking at Kurumu with 'absolute innocence'. "After all, I want to spend as much time as I can with my dear beloved ones!"

"Hehehe, s-so you're still with that…" awkwardly muttered Moka while scratching her head, feeling happy that at least the young girl seemed more open about…"Wait, beloved 'ones'?"

"Yup! Because, after this morning, I have realized it! I'm not only in love with Moka-san but also with Kazuto-san!" proudly revealed the young witch, causing the vampire to choke on her own spit and the succubus to go white as a ghost, while she once again nuzzled her face on the back of the blinking boy's head. "That's why I'm not going to surrender until I have made both of them fall for me!"

"Ah…you're welcome?"

"WHA-WHAT?!"

"Oh no, like hell! I have enough with the vampire already, I'm not letting a little girl cling to my Destined One like that!"

"Oh yeah? Well, come and separate me from him if you dare!"

"You bet I'm going to…! AWW! What the…?! Where did that bucket come from?!"

"Who knows, hehheh…?"

"YOU…!"

"Yu-Yukari-chan, please, stop clinging to Kazuto like tha…!"

And as the classroom descended into mayhem around him, Kirigaya Kazuto couldn't help but tilt his head as he pondered over something.

 _"…I wonder if Akihiko-san could let me borrow some Nerve Gears for everyone here. After all, I finally hacked the Wi-Fi and I would like to show them SAO…"_

And so, another typical day at Youkai Academy came to an end…

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** Random anime reference power for the win, yay XD!

Jokes aside, though, hope you enjoyed this Omake as much as I did writing it :3I don't think I need to tell anyone who has already read the series, but Rosario+Vampire is quite an ambivalent series because it has quite deep and serious themes (Especially in the 2nd part), but it's able to mix them quite well with hilariousness and touching scenes. The first part, despite being mostly comedy during its beginning, had quite a few very serious and dark tones through it. How Yukari felt through most of her life was quickly downplayed in favor of laughs during her introduction, never mind that those 3 wanted to freaking EAT her alive (Though her character DOES get more definition later), so I wanted to play around with it a bit to both make her feel more 'real' while still being herself and also show a bit of what's hidden within the mind of our dear Freak of Nature. While the main point of these crossover-Omakes is still comedy, I didn't want to waste opportunities to do things like this so I hope you had fun reading it :3

Oh, and how many of you know who Lusus!Kirito was quoting when he fell from the sky to save the day :P?

Next time, it's Kurumu's turn! Yeah, I'm most likely going to 'summarize' the Art Teacher Incident while her own chapter (Which is a manga-exclusive one, the one about the pervert slime) takes place not only because I don't feel it needs its own chapter, but also because I want to write more about my favorite R+V girl and her interactions with our weird Kirito XP So, yes, next time: _If you dare to touch…_

Until then, this is Saint, signing off!


	11. Chapter 9: Because I'm Unique

It has been some time, hasn't it? Sorry about that, my summer job is eating literally almost all of my free time, but it's being worth it (I'm finally getting a PS4 next month, yay!). That aside, I also took a quite important decision, which you shall see in the author's notes after the chapter (Also, reminder that both this story and Requiem Universus now have TvTropes pages, and that all your help filling them would be appreciated. Links are on my profile!)

Those things aside, though, hope you enjoy this new chapter of my weirdest story ever! Also, fun fact, about the reviewers that wondered if drugs would even 'work' in Kirito, I would like to point you back to Chapter 1 (Not confuse with the Prologue), during the first scene, when Ubom and Grotek are talking about the 'siblings' and how 'Kirito' was being stupid :3

Without further ado, have fun reading!

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Because I'm Unique…**

 **September 4th, 2023. Koto, Tokyo. Somewhere in the docks, 20:00…**

Sugou Nobuyuki was a man that always had wanted to have everything he could and more.

Even back in his college days, and even when working under Dr. Shigemura, the fact that Kayaba Akihiko was always ahead of him, always relegating him to 'Number 2' despite his talent, filled him with rage and jealousy. He had spent years of effort trying to surpass his 'rival' to no avail. No matter how much he tried, his own intellect was no match for that of the genius. The only 'consolation' he could have was that his (Mostly pretended) social skills were always better to the introvert attitude that Kayaba had.

In the end, as they were their separate ways and he got a job in RECT Inc., he was decided to become the best he could, no matter what got in his way, just to prove he was better than his 'rival', through any means necessary.

It had taken quite a bit of work (And a fair share of unimportant people he had to 'crush' in order to advance as fast as he did), but he had, on his opinion, managed it: He became the chief of RECT Progress, the company's research institute, he managed to befriend the CEO and his family and, after years of careful words, proving his worth and a carefully crafted cordial relationship, had managed to get engaged to his daughter, all but assuring that HE would become the next CEO of RECT Inc. when the time came (Sure, the girl was way younger than him, and it wasn't as if he found her particularly interesting, but she was a means to an end, and would grow up beautifully if her mother was anything to go by). It was perfect, beyond that, a proof that his efforts and his way of life were successful, that his methods were more than justified.

Then Kayaba had to go and become famous worldwide by creating FullDive tech. Literally revolutionizing almost every single field possible, then becoming even more acclaimed by showing the full possibilities of his virtual world by making Sword Art Online.

It had made his blood boil and almost send him into a spiral of rage. Once again, out of nowhere, that _bastard_ without aspirations effortlessly made all his accomplishments seem small and pathetic, meaningless.

He had only managed to calm down by reminding himself that it didn't really matter anymore. Sure, he may not be able to reach Kayaba's level or fame, but he wasn't a college student anymore, none of that mattered at all now. He had the rest of his life all but assured to be lived in luxury and success thanks to his efforts, and there was nothing Kayaba could do that would that away from him!

…or so he had thought. Because, suddenly, a fatal 'crack' had appeared on his plan, and from no other part than the one he had never even taken into consideration at all: Yuuki Asuna herself.

Oh yes, he had never thought too much of his 'fiancée'. He had 'known' her since before she was a teenager and had always wore a mask of polite kindness whenever they met, but he had always assumed that the girl raised under the strict care of Yuuki Kyouko would always meekly do as her family told her. Despite showing great promise in her studies a being beautiful, for a girl her age, she had no drive on her own, only ever doing as she was told.

But then, an 'event' he had never been aware of until much later had happened. Somehow, the drive-less girl had saved a mysterious boy from drowning in her house's pool. And saving a life had, apparently, changed her in a surprising way.

Suddenly, she had a keen awareness of the world, suddenly she was worried about a lot of things and problems she would have found unimportant before, suddenly she _cared_ for way more than just living her life as she was 'supposed' to.

None of this had truly mattered to him back then, though, even after having met the strange 'boy'. She was still his fiancée, and even if she had changed a bit, she was still the key to his success…and then SAO's launch day came, and it slowly became obvious to him that his long-time and carefully crafted plan was going to hell.

Asuna started to show even more drive than before, started to oppose her mother's decision for her future more actively and, in a politely aggressive way, started to show that she didn't want to marry him at all, and that she would do everything she could so that it didn't happen.

It was like a nightmare threatening to take away everything he had worked so hard for, but, by the time he had finally realized there was no reasoning with the girl and that her mother no longer could take control over her 'rebellious attitude, it hadn't taking him long to discover WHAT was the cause of it all.

That boy. That goddamned boy he had met at Kayaba's lab, the same one she had saved the life of, the one who had introduced himself as 'Kirito'. By a chance in a million, he had met with her again inside that thrice damned game and 'reconnected' with the girl, becoming inseparable friends. And Asuna, meeting the one who had unknowingly shown her the new 'path' she wanted to follow in life, had instantly gotten attached to him in a way that was way beyond simple friendship.

Once again, it all, somehow, ended up coming back to Kayaba. His game, his stupid assistant boy'…it had ruined everything he had worked so hard for! Again, and again, that man found a way to throw his life into chaos and take everything from him!

Well, no more. This time, he would ensure that HE was the one standing victorious at the end, and he possessed more than enough resources to manage it without any real effort.

Finding out the boy he knew as 'Kirito's real name had been child's play. Not because he had the money or influence to actually do so (He did), but because Asuna's mother complained about him and the 'bad influence' he was for her daughter almost every formal meal of the family he was invited to (And that he had keenly realized the aforementioned teenage girl had stopped attending). A simple and seemingly innocent question had been enough for Yuuki Kyouko to tell him…more than he really wanted to know about Kirigaya Kazuto (He didn't need to know that the boy was adopted, the people he used to hang out with, the places he used to eat at or the stores he used to buy things from…seriously, his fiancée's mother was a bit obsessed when it came to her daughter, even if it benefited him in this case), but getting to know which high school he was going to attend to, plus the fact that the idiotic boy was, apparently, as naïve and innocent as he had seemed that first time they met, had helped him immensely.

After that, it had been just a question of deciding exactly how to 'remove' the boy from his way. Intimidation or bribes were out of the question, not only for the lack of reliability in someone so young, but also because Sugou had the feeling they would be ineffective in the hyperactive and naïve teen.

Kidnaping him…could be effective, especially if part of the conditions for his release were for his family to move far away and cut ties with everyone they knew, but the idea implied way too many problems. While he had more than enough resources for even having someone take the kid out of the country, the difficulties, cost and danger of an ongoing investigation were simply too many to consider.

That only left the most drastic and extreme option. Kirigaya Kazuto needed to die in a 'terrible accident'.

While many people would have been horrified at the idea of someone consider killing with such a casual ease, Sugou Nobuyuki was a much more 'practical' person.

He had great plans for RECT that requited him being at the top, and even greater ones for VR Tech once they managed to get their own copies of Cardinal from Argus (Or Kayaba, to be more specific). Plans that would make him greater than his 'rival', despite his recent successes, would ever be.

He wasn't about to let a simple, pathetic and average boy get in the way of all that.

Finally, after careful planning, he had gotten everything ready, and that day he had finally put his plan into motion.

It was simple, yet elegant. Kirigaya Kazuto would never get home from school and, by the next day or so, he would be found dead somewhere near the docks of Tokyo Bay, having fallen from a deadly height and reeking of alcohol.

A drunken teenager going out to have fun and having an accident, even in the current age, wasn't all that uncommon, after all. Even with all the investigation, the police would never find anything unusual, and even if anyone got even the slightest clue, well, Sugou had more than enough 'contacts' there to ensure it wouldn't be a problem, and so he had gotten ready for his annoying problem to finally be 'resolved'.

At the beginning, everything had seemed to go smoothly. He had his 'driver' (Paid more than enough to do his 'job' and never ask questions) get a simple, nondescript car and they boarded it together. Using himself as 'bait' to lure the kid would have seemed foolish to some, but that was just because they watched too many television or read one too many manga.

Not only would the teen recognize him and at least believe him to some degree for being his friend's fiancée, everyone knew that, if you wanted something well done, you have to be there to verify it (Even if the one that would do the 'deed' in the end was the man driving and not him, of course).

It had truly surprised him, though, how easy everything had been. Not only was Kazuto apparently naiver (Or dumber in his opinion) than he had thought, the boy also hadn't hesitated when he offered him a drink except to say a minor shouldn't drink alcohol, which he had waved off by telling him that a bit was okay and even a gesture of goodwill when meeting with 'someone important' like him.

When the black-haired boy had smiled in awe, nodded and downed the drink (Laced with a potent and expensive drug that would vanish from his body in a few hours), Sugou Nobuyuki had _almost_ felt bad for what he was doing. It almost felt like killing someone with a mental disability.

That was when the first signal that something was 'wrong' happened, and oh how he deeply regretted now to have ignored the alarm bells going off in his head when, instead of quickly falling asleep, the boy's face had reddened as he gained a funny look while saying that the vodka was amazing and if he could have another drink. Hesitating, Sugou had kept his affable mask while refilling his glass and making idle conversation, pretending to ask him how his friendship with Asuna was going lately.

Seven cups later, the bespectacled man was seriously considering fire whoever had been in charge of getting the somniferous, but still pleased with the result. He had gotten the boy REALLY drunk out of his mind, so much he was now babbling incoherencies about dreams of bleeding stars that weren't stars and planets made of flesh that scared him to no end. And something about a distant voice in the back of his head getting closer each day that he didn't really understand, nor that he cared from the inane ramblings of a drunken boy that apparently had seen one too many creepy sci-fi movies.

That should have been his second warning that something was very wrong, though. Not only the strange things he said, but also that, even if the drug was effectively ineffective or fake, a boy who had never drunk before shouldn't have been able to stomach all that alcohol so quickly without passing out or, at least, being left unable to move on his own.

Either way, they had finally arrived to Tokyo Bay and, after exchanging some words saying he needed to 'buy something' he had asked the hiccupping boy to follow him out of the car, the driver trailing behind them as they walked through the dark and craped areas of the docks, the elongated shadows cast by the almost-fully-set sun giving all of it an even more ominous look.

Kazuto had just started making worried questions in his drunken state about why there were no shops around and why were they taken such a strange path when they arrived at the roof of one of the many warehouse-like buildings that filled the area.

By that point, the bespectacled man was sure a part of the boy muddled mind had started to realize 'something' was wrong, but his 'driver' had already grabbed him and hoisted him up, ignoring his confused questions as he was dragged/carried to the roof's edge.

In that moment, finally realizing how truly pathetically easy everything had been, Sugou Nobuyuki had been unable to hold back the maniacal sense of triumph within him and had broken into a very creepy bout of laughter, telling Kazuto how he was 'Sorry', but that he was an obstacle in his plans he couldn't allow himself to deal with, and that he would take 'good care' of Asuna when he was gone, 'consoling' the poor girl when she got the tragic news of his 'unexpected' death.

The black haired boy had then STARED at him just as the man's lackey threw him off the roof, turning around without even giving the falling body a second look.

Then a dozen of massive _black tentacles_ had surged from the edge, grabbing the wide-eyed driver and dragging him down before he could even scream.

And that was how everything went to hell.

Now, scared shitless, breathless and shaking like a leaf, Sugou peeked around the corner of the group of crates he was hiding behind, the labyrinth of containers and shadows surrounding the docks seeming darker and more sinister than ever, every whisper of wind or small sound in the distance making him want to scream and start running.

Wrong. Wrong. Everything had gone horribly wrong. What was that thing? What was that kid…that monster?! A nightmare, yes, this had to be a nightmare, there was no way something like this could happen in reality, no way something like this could happen to him! He needed to calm down, think rationally and…

 **"Sugoooouu-saaaaannn…"** echoed the distorted, inhuman and, more terrifyingly, drunken voice that made the man's heart freeze on his chest. **"Wheeere areeeee youuuu? C'mon…werrren't weee…havvvinnnggg funnn…?"**

Throwing caution and rational thought to the win, Sugou rushed out of his hiding place and sprinted through the labyrinthic docks as if the Devil himself was after him, his breath burning out of his lungs as he tried to get away from the sounds of something heavy moving through the shadows with unnatural grace, of unnatural flesh slithering through the darkness.

"Gotta run…gotta run!"

He didn't even remember where his car was at this point, but to be fair the sheer terror consuming him had made him get lost beyond hope in the dark and damp zone. His only thought right now was getting out of the docks an into the city proper, where there would be people, where there would be others for the THING to take his attention off him, or maybe even not follow him altogether, like in a horror story where the monster didn't come out in crowded places. All that he needed was to find the way to…!

Turning around a corner near a small storage building, Sugou stopped dead in his tracks, _staring_ at the darkness ahead of him.

A darkness filled with countless inhuman eyes, read and golden with pulsating black veins.

Then, as one, endless mouths filled with sharp teeth opened under the eyes, almost seeming to be _smiling_ his way.

Without even thinking, the bespectacled man turned around faster than he thought possible raising a leg to start running with renowned strength…and was stopped in his tracks when over a dozen eye-covered tendrils coiled around his limbs, his scream never leaving his mouth as another of the tentacles closed around his mouth like a nightmarish gag.

Unable to do anything but thrash in fear, Sugou was lifted off his feet, his eyes wide with absolute panic and terror behind his cracked glasses as he was turned upside down and forced to face towards the wall of flesh waiting in the darkness. From it, something 'emerged', twisted in an impossible angle.

Kirigaya Kazuto's still human-looking face, his eyes now the same as those of the writhing flesh and tendrils surrounding him, his skin crawling as if there was something trying to burst through it even as he STARED towards the shaking man, an innocent and drunken smile still on his slightly feminine face as he did so.

Somehow, that made it even a thousand times more terrifying for Sugou. And when the boy spoke again…there was none of the earlier warmth remaining in his voice.

 **"Now, why don't you tell me again what were you planning to do with MY friend…?"**

In the middle of the darkened docks, no one could hear Sugou Nobuyuki finally scream.

* * *

 _"The larger the Shadows, the brightest the Light."_ – Anonymous (Putting it backwards gives it a strange perspective, don't you think?)

* * *

Giving a last look towards her phone as she entered the small bar, Kirigaya Suguha sighed and reminded herself that she was already 14 and a half (Almost), more than old enough to go out of her home after 8 in the night without problems or to need to call her mom at work if she did so. She already left Kazuto a note saying she was going out shopping with a friend and that she would be back soon, after all.

Technically, that was only half-truth, though. She certainly wasn't out shopping, not in that place called 'Dicey Café', but she _was_ meeting with a 'friend'…

"Ah, there you are. I was wondering if you had actually found an excuse to not show up, Sugu-chan."

Suppressing the customary twitch of annoyance that hearing that voice calling her name like that caused, the young kendoka turned towards a nearby table, where the familiar form of Shigemura Yuuna could be seen waving at her with one hand, a cup of cold tea in the other.

"Hey, Yuuna." was all that Suguha expressed for greeting as she came to the older girl's table and sat down. "And of course I would show up. After all, this is a…very personal matter."

A tense silence seemed to hang in the air after those words were spoken, both girls staring fixedly at each other as if trying measure something that couldn't be seen, the only interruption in their cold war of stares being when the café's owner (An imposing American man called Andrew) came by to ask if the young kendoka wanted something, which was answered by asking for another cold tea like the one Yuuna was drinking.

After the dark-skinned man was gone, 'something' seemed to have left the air between both girls, as if an imaginary burden had been lifted, and so the older one sighed while looking down at her tea with a bitter frown.

"I can't believe he kissed you."

"…to be honest, me neither. I was so out of it after that I was sure I would wake up in my bed at any second." calmly answered the young kendoka before looking down and biting her lips. "When I knew I hadn't been his first kiss, though…I felt…"

"Horrible? Disappointed? Angry? As if you wanted to tear off his face? Because that's how I felt when we realized what happened the day after that mess with his new 'friends'." growled Yuuna while dangerously tightening her grip on the tea glass, making Suguha's eyes widen. "I just….I didn't try bringing the subject up after the scare he gave us because I thought he would need time to think, you know? But then he goes and…kisses you too?! Who does he think he is?! That was…that was my first kiss too, you know?!"

"Eh?! Re-really?!" almost shouted the younger girl with wide eyes, making sure to lower her voice in time to not cause a scene. "Bu-but…well, it's just that…you're so pretty and…I was sure you would have…"

"Try growing up with my father. I love him, but he's not exactly the best paternal figure out there, he has always been more of a scientist. And since mom died…" the brown-haired girl trailed off, her eyes suddenly turning distant as she tried to calm down. "Well, point is, the only boy I have ever been close to before was my childhood friend, Eiji-kun…"

"You have a childhood friend?" asked a shocked Suguha while raising an eyebrow. "But, how is that we…?"

"Haven't met him? Because he's barely around anymore. Eiji-kun…he's always been very shy, despite being a bit older than me, and when he focuses in something he puts his best into that to try and overcome said shyness. Recently he has been trying to get in dad's institute of research so we have barely talked except for a few times this past year…And, well, I have also been spending more time with…Kazuto and you all lately." confessed Yuuna while drinking a long gulp from her tea. "I have only ever seen him as a brother…an actual brother, I mean, not like you d…sorry. Tha-that was uncalled for, I shouldn't have…"

"Heh…it's okay, I'm not offended or anything." interrupted the young kendoka while giving the other girl a bitter smile, turning to look out of the window towards the street. "Do you know why he means so much to me? It's because…he has always been everything for me. My first memories are of the warmth of his hand on mine, of his smiles soothing me whenever I was sad. I can recall them more vividly than being in my mother's arms."

"Su-Sugu-chan…"

"Not a day passed when he wouldn't be by my side, playing with me, listening to what I had to say, or even just…being there, because he enjoyed it. And I did, too, more than anything." chuckling, Suguha paused in her tale to receive her cold tea, giving Andrew a thankful smile and waiting for him to walk away before proceeding. "And I guess I knew it was weird, a small part of me. After all, I grew surrounded by kids complaining about their siblings, about how they annoyed them sometimes or how they fought over toys or how they disliked something or another of them. Something normal in kids…but, for me, THEY were the weird ones."

"…because he wasn't anything like that, was he?" muttered Yuuna while a small smile appeared on her face, remembering the odd visage of a young boy ignoring her as he stared at the complicated (For her) designs of a virtual Floating Castle.

"You know it. We never once fought, we never once argued. He was always happy just by seeing me happy, I would always enjoy anything he had to say, we were the happiest when we spend time with each other…the kind of siblings that you won't really see in reality, only in fairy tales or very vanilla Slice of Life manga." taking a long sip from her drink, the young kendoka's smile seemed to have turned brighter at the memories. "Then I learned he wasn't my brother, but some sort of weird 'monster' that my parents had found and taken with them, and suddenly it clicked for me, that maybe it wasn't the rest of the world what was weird, that maybe that your older brother could turn his arm into a giant eye-filled claw, jump back-first off big trees without injuring himself, run for many streets with you on his back faster than a bike or call for animals emitting weird sounds wasn't normal…"

"Suguha, please…" begged the older girl, using her full name at seeing her tremble. "You don't need to keep…!"

"I thought all of that for 1 second before realizing I didn't care, just as he smashed through his window and then ran off to almost drown himself in Asuna's pool. That night was the single, most terrifying and heartbreaking time of my life. I realized just how…'empty' my life was without him. And when I saw him the next day, looking all flushed and scared with that pretty rich girl hoovering over him…I realized that I actually loved him in a way a sister shouldn't." putting down her drink as she said those words, the young kendoka stared at Yuuna with a gaze that seemed… _wrong_ , out of place in a girl her age. "I'm not normal, Yuuna, and I know that. Normal girls don't hop on the back of mutant alien crows and ride all the way to Tokyo to save their brother from an alien armed with a laser gun without a second thought. Nor do find everything that happens around him normal. I know something is wrong with my mind, because of having grown up with him…but I don't care."

The songstress didn't say anything this time. She just…stared, at Suguha's serene face, as if she was seeing her for the first time.

"I don't care that my brother is in truth an alien monster the size of a truck filled with eyes and tentacles, or that my pets are alien crows he 'changed', or that he casually did the same to a bunch of people he barely knew just to save them from their incurable diseases…because I love him so much I can't imagine life without him." honestly explained the young kendoka while looking at the little remaining tea in her glass. "And I know that, by 'normal standards', being 14 and thinking like that must mean I'm screwed up in the head …but I don't care. I never will. That's just…who I am."

"…man, I really can't compete with you, can I?" bitterly laughed Yuuna while shaking her head, making Suguha blink at her in surprise. "Kazuto…he's the first boy I have ever felt this way for. He makes me feel special, motivated, to do my best for everything I dream of…but, compared to you, the moment I knew 'the truth' about him…it really made me doubt my feelings for quite some time. I don't deserve…"

"You kissed him." cut her off the younger girl with a suddenly 'defeated' tone, making the songstress look at her in surprise. "You finally decided to go for it, risk it all and shot him how you felt, even if you didn't know if he would even _understand_ it. You were braver than I ever was in that regard. Hell, the only reason he kissed ME was to try and understand better what he felt for YOU. When I realized that, I felt so…cold, so sad that I couldn't even muster the courage to ask him what he had realized or what he had felt when he kissed me. In that regard, I'm the coward that can't hope to compete with you…"

"That's…not true, you know? After all, for all that I did that night…I wasn't brave enough to ask him for an 'answer' either, and let him so 'confused' he went and did _that_ with you." feeling a headache forming at the front of her skull, the songstress quickly downed what remained of her own cold drink before letting out a strange laugh. "God bless, how the hell is that he's the one that kisses another girl and _I am_ the one feeling bad? _That_ seems like more science fiction than any crazy super-aliens!"

"Maybe because Onii-chan isn't like any other boy on the planet. Quite literally. At least I wouldn't believe anyone else if I discovered they were going around kissing girls with the excuse of trying to 'understand' their feelings." commented Suguha with a small chuckle before looking up towards Yuuna with a bright face. "But I guess that's just another thing that makes us love him so much, uh?"

"…heh, you're probably the only girl 3 years younger than me that I will ever accept can make me seem like a fool, Sugu-chan." happily answered the older girl while putting down her empty glass. "So, what do you say if we go talk to the idiot tomorrow and ask him straight out, with no hard feelings about the outcome?"

"…yeah, I think I would like that, Yuuna." replied the young kendoka with a bright smile on her own.

And for a moment, there was nothing but pleasant silence between the two 'rivals'…

"…also, I haven't actually asked her, but, uhm, I think Onii-chan may have tried to kiss Asuna before me, just before they met the Sleeping Knights."

"…and suddenly, the temptation of punching him in the face as soon as I see him is coming back full force…"

"You would probably end up hurting yourself more than him…"

"And you don't know how horribly unfair that is! Ugh, please, at least tell me he hasn't tried the same with Shiori or Rika."

"I…don't think so."

"Woah, that lack of confidence in your voice just managed to make me _even more_ worried, almost to the point of fearing he may have even tried it with Keiko-chan or Shino-san…should we call Asuna so that she also comes to talk with him?"

"I guess…? I mean, honestly, she has always worried me as much as you in regards to him…"

"Argh, don't remind me…I know him a thousand times more, but I swear those two just seem to connect as if they were destined partners or something! Did saving his life make that much of a difference?!"

"Well…at least he hasn't gotten around making any other 'friends' in High School so far…"

"Please, Sugu-chan, don't tempt Fate like that. Every day he's alone in there I fear we're either going to hear he accidentally caused an incident or that half the girls in the school have suddenly fallen for him…"

"He-hey, don't say that! Onii-chan has matured a lot these past years; he wouldn't mess up High School just because he's going alone!"

For some reason, both girls thought they faintly heard the sound of ever-echoing laughter in the distance…

* * *

 _"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Then, force them to become your friends too."_ – Anonymous (Teaching valuable anime-life lessons).

* * *

Kirigaya Kazuto knew he had probably messed things up very badly, even as he stared at the two unconscious men hanging from the crane's side, a grimace upon his face.

When he had fully recovered control of his cognitive capabilities, from an unpleasant moment to the next (Probably because of his bizarre biology), he had almost fell down and broke the entire thing when he felt a head-splitting headache hitting him all over. It seemed that suddenly going from 'drugged drunk' to 'hangover' wasn't very good for anyone, alien or not. Then, he had taken all of 5 seconds in recovering fully from the unpleasant side-effects, also making sure to develop immunity to the substance that Sugou had put in the first glass of vodka he had handed him.

To a normal boy his age, it would have left them out cold for hours to such degree that not even a hit to the face would have woken them. To him, it had only mixed with the gratuitous quantities of alcohol he had consumed to actually induce an inebriated state in his alien body. Then again, it wasn't as if the bespectacled man intent on 'removing him from the way' knew he would have needed dozens of times the quantity of the substance he had used if he truly wished to put the being denominated as 'X-K0940' to sleep (Not that it would be a problem now that he was consciously willing his body to assimilate and become immune to said drug or similar ones).

Scowling at the memory, Kazuto let his gaze move down towards the unconscious form of Sugou Nobuyuki, remembering everything that he had managed to 'interrogate' from him during his slightly uncontrollable state. To think that anyone would wish to use Asuna that way and have suck horrible and sinister plans in mind for FullDive technology…the simple thought made him sick and his blood to boil, an uncontrollable desire of anger filling his very…!

Taking a deep breath, the gamer forced himself to calm down, the tendrils that had started to emerge from his destroyed uniform (And boy was he going to get in troubles for that) receding back into his body while he forced his eyes to return to their normal human appearance.

It was already bad enough that he had broken the driver's ribs without meaning to when he knocked him out and then all of Sugou's limbs while 'motivating' him to talk with his tendrils and then make him swear to never get near Asuna again. He couldn't just go around hurting people without thinking. He was _not_ a monster.

That aside, though, there was one BIG problem now he had to take care of. Namely, the two unconscious men he had hanging from the side of a crane in the docks of Tokyo through some sort of hardened secretion (Which he was pretty sure came from the mouth of some blind creature that lived underground in a moon-sized mountain range, somewhere at the edge of a neighboring galaxy) and that he had to get back home soon given how late it already was.

His inability to properly discern the details of his genetic mutations' origins or arriving home in time aside, the point was that he couldn't just leave them there with such a clear evidence of something 'alien' having happened. He could always just drag them down back to their car and leave them there, but that nagging feeling about the possibility of the bespectacled man trying anything to harm Asuna in retaliation for this stopped him from doing so.

The inhuman boy was _really_ out of his depth here. He didn't know what to do, hell, he was sure no one he knew probably knew what to do in such a…situation…

"That's it!" shouted Kazuto to no one before quickly grabbing his phone and dialing a number Kayaba Akihiko himself had given to him. "C'mon, answer, please…"

"You have contacted MHCP-001, Codename 'Yui' with the SAO Emergency Counseling System." informed a familiar voice with an almost robotic tone. "How may I be of assis…?"

"Yui-chan, now it's not the time for scripted talks, I urgently need your help!"

"…yo-you?! O-oh…by Cardinal an all that is virtually holy, Kayaba-sama gave you this number, right? WHY?! Why would he force this torture upon m…?!"

"Forget that, I need you to check if a specific player is Logged In and then communicate him with me, now! It's an urgent situation!"

"What?! Do you have any idea how many protocols I would be breaking with…?! Wait…you mean you just need to talk with this person and you won't bother me at all after that?"

"Uhm, yes? Sorry if it bothers you, but I don't think you specifically could help me with this situa…"

"What's the Player's username?!"

In that moment, depth within the 'Forest of Wandering', a Field Dungeon within Aincrad's 35th Floor, a certain group of hooded Players was still gathered despite the hour, as they were planning for the next move of their 'unusual' guild…when a flash of light emerged between them and let Yui appear in all her glory, a slightly maniacal smile on the AI's face as she turned towards the most imposing of the group and all but threw an holo-screen his way.

"There you go, PoH, it's for you!"

"…eh?" was all that the leader of the most hated guild within the VRMMO could say before the floating little girl vanished, leaving behind the very confused members of Laughing Coffin.

Finally, after a couple seconds of hesitation, PoH grabbed the virtual window and dragged it close to him, pushing the 'accept' button on it and letting what seemed suspiciously like the standard 'Ongoing Call Screen' of a phone appear on its surface.

"PoH-san, thank heavens you were Online!" came a strangely familiar voice from the screen, making the man and those around him blink in disbelief.

"…Kirito?" asked the confused leader of the PK Guild while everyone around him broke into whispers, apparently as put off by the sudden event as him.

"Yeah, it's me! I have a problem and you're probably the most appropriate person to ask for something like this, so I risked it to the fact you were Logged In, and you were!" 'explained' the boy with a relieved tone, making everyone sweatdrop as PoH's lips twitched in amusement.

"I see…and in what way can I humbly help you, Smiling Swordsman?" asked the hooded man with a hint of dark humor, everyone around him giggling sinisterly at the clear mocker…

"Hypothetically, if someone had just tried to get rid of me through some set-up to make it seem like an accident, but I had managed to turn things around, what would be the best way of getting rid of them without raising suspicions?"

A **deep** silence filled the clearing of the Wandering Forest after the boy's words were finished, everyone just staring blankly at the holo-screen while their brains tried to properly process what they had just heard.

"…wait, what?"

"Uhm, hypothetically, if someone…"

"Yeah, yea, I heard you the first time; I was just trying to verify I had actually heard that right." cut him off PoH with a suddenly exasperated tone, before adopting a deep-thinking expression. "Well, if it was me I guess I would probably see if I can use what they wanted to fuck me over with to screw with them myself, but seriously, what are you…?"

"Ah, that may work! Thanks a lot, PoH-san; I will go a bit easier on you and your friends next time as thanks!" happily interrupted their 'sworn enemy' before disconnecting the call.

The following new silence made the members of Laughing Coffin feel, for some reason, strangely pathetic.

Meanwhile, back in the docks Tokyo Bay, Kirigaya Kazuto happily finished pouring yet another of the many bottles of expensive alcoholic drinks over the unconscious form of Sugou Nobuyuki (Having just done the same with his driver), also making him down a small quantity of it, and then proceeded to 'carefully' slam the car in which they had taken him there against one of the metallic crates in an angle that made it seem as if the one driving had lost control of the vehicle, turning most of the frontal part of it into a destroyed mess. Working quickly (Knowing that the loud sound may have alerted someone), the inhuman boy haphazardly put Sugou on the backseat, twisted the frame so that it didn't seem unnatural, and quickly did the same with the other man in the driver seat. Then, for good measure, he triggered the airbag with a soft punch and slammed the man's head into it.

Satisfied with his handiwork, Kazuto turned around and fled the scene, jumping and climbing over crates and then roofs until he was far away from the docks, then stopping to look at the night sky.

It was getting late and his uniform was ruined, never mind the fact that he was quite far away from his home. He needed to hurry if he wanted to arrive before Sugu started getting worried (He could only arrive so late and excuse it as one of his peculiars 'adventures', after all).

But before that…there was something crucial he needed to do.

With a determined look, the boy once again got his phone from his ruined pants and dialed a familiar number.

"…Kirito? Is everything alright? Yui just sent me one of her usual complaints saying that you used the emergency…"

"Akihiko-san, please, tell me." interrupted the boy with an unusually serious and determined voice. "What would I need to study and how high my grades would need to be if I wanted to work with you at Argus?"

"…eh? Wha-what would you want to…?"

"Because I want to become a man worthy of marrying Asuna instead of that bastard of Sugou Nobuyuki!" answered the gamer without a shred of doubt.

The sound of the phone falling from Kayaba Akihiko's hands and slamming into the floor could be heard through the whole building.

And for some reason, in the middle of taking a bath, Yuuki Asuna felt a strange but not unwelcome shiver run down her back…

* * *

 _"We can't choose what we Are but we can Be what we Choose."_ – Anonymous (A true master of confusing the hell out of people).

* * *

Despite how late it was, Asada Shino simply refused to fall asleep, suppressing yet another yawn as she kept typing in her portable computer, stacks of papers and notes around her desk while the many pictures and piece of newspapers' articles stared at her from the walls in that creepy-comfortable way she was used to.

Her mother was working late that day, something she was glad for. She may have promised her that she wouldn't stay 'investigating' till late so as to not affect her health or school life, but what she was doing in that moment was way too important to delay it. And while it was, in a way, related to aliens, it wasn't, for once, something that she wasn't doing for fun or to try and expose 'the Truth', as she called it (Though she wasn't exactly trying to do that anymore, given Kazuto needed his secret to remain a secret).

No, the reports and data she was looking over at that moment were all related to a certain case of 'Serial Kidnapping'. More specifically, of several terminally ill patients that had been 'abducted' from their rooms on the same night, some in hospitals that were entire prefectures away, which made the police suspect some sort of organized group or similar had been behind the 'crimes'. Even more, she was centered around every single news related to the 'victims' families and their reactions to the 'tragedy', what they have been doing lately and how they were collaborating with the authorities to try and get any information about their loved ones.

The bespectacled girl scowled upon seeing one where the article's writer had been blunt and uncaring enough to mention how several of the 'kidnapped patients' would more than likely be dead already without access to the medical equipment that maintained their precarious health stable.

Other similar annotations, mostly printed, around her came directly from Keiko. The young girl had the advantage of living fairly close to a couple of their 'targets', and also of being closer to everywhere in general unlike her (Living in the countryside had some disadvantages in these cases). It was surprising how easily an almost-13-years-old girl ('Just a month more!' as she liked to say) could get around and gather information without anyone finding it suspicious, especially if she was 'so cute' with her twin-tails and carrying her cat everywhere.

For a moment, Shino stopped and pondered about the moral implications of 'corrupting' such a young girl into doing things like this and which consequences it could have in her future, before quickly dismissing the thought as 'silly'. She and Keiko were partners now, two keepers of the world's dark secrets and veiling to keep threats from Beyond from damaging their planet.

At least that's what she told herself since she met with Kazuto again. The bespectacled girl still needed to get some actual 'instruments' for herself and Keiko to be actually able to do something beyond just research if any aliens or something similar ever tried to invade their planet (And it felt _good_ to know for once that this was an actual possibility with 100% proof, unlike in the past). They couldn't exactly rely on their fists for that, especially her younger partner…though there was always the chance of just calling their own 'human alien' for help if the need ever arose.

Thinking about the black-haired boy, Shino stopped her work completely for a moment to stare at the wall just over her table. Besides her childish drawing of him that she made long ago, there was now an actual picture of him, grinning at the camera while the rest of his friends were around him. Even herself and Keiko, though that had certainly taken quite the convincing for his part. It seemed that it would still take some time, if they ever made the actual effort, for them to forgive the two of them for having 'forced' Kazuto to reveal his secret.

She honestly didn't see the problem with it. After all, they had all ended up getting even closer because of that, right?

Be that as it may, though, the point was that…Kirigaya Kazuto was the biggest and most contradicting person she had ever encountered.

An alien experiment gone wrong, abandoned by aliens way too stupid for her liking despite how advanced they were. Raised by a human family, having grown up into a painfully innocent and cheerful boy, despite being in truth some unholy abomination from outer space.

And he had saved Shino's, her mother's and maybe every single other life inside the post office that fateful day that had changed her life. If he hadn't been there, if he hadn't been what he was, who knew how her life would be in that moment? Or if she would even still be there at all?

Whatever the case, the fact was that the black-haired boy had proven himself to be an ally. Someone she could count on. A real friend.

…that was something she had very little of. In fact, except for him, only Keiko could actually be called her 'friend'. She had acquaintances in her school, sure, but being 'the girl who is always reading and writing about weird things' was an easy way to not being the most social person around. On the bright side, anyone stupid enough to think it was a good idea to bully her for it quickly learned that her grades in PE and her sharp mind weren't just for show. It was surprising the number of ways you could 'hurt' a fellow middle schooler without even touching them when you were 'training' to fight aliens.

"My best friends are a hyperactive little girl and the failed alien experiment I was looking for since I was 10, for which now I'm trying to find a way to make contact with several families of 'kidnapped' people without the authorities catching on, because he saved said people's lives by turning them into alien-hybrids." commented Shino to the empty room with an amused smile, before taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes. "…heh, man, I must be crazy or something, to be happy with such a life."

The only thing the bespectacled girl was certain of, though, was that she wouldn't change her current life for any possible alternative.

And so, with a small grin on her face, she set out to continue her arduous and illegal task, a plan already half-formed in her mind as she kept noting down details that would include her two friends as key parts of it. Maybe even the rest Kazuto's friends, if she felt nice enough and they decided to stop giving her and Keiko the cold shoulder for a couple hours…

* * *

The next day, just as the bell announcing the last class of the day had ended rang, Kirigaya Kazuto hummed happily and started putting everything back on his bag, thinking about what he was now aiming to do.

After a long talk with Akihiko, which he had thankfully been able to have while heading back home (It _was_ kind of an emergency so there was nothing wrong with using his wings, right?), he had more or least determined everything he would need to study and what he would need to focus on if he wanted to work at Argus (Though the man had said that it wouldn't really be that difficult for him, given that he currently had skills similar to his because of the time he 'worked as his secretary').

His plan was 'simple': Sugou Nobuyuki wasn't someone he wanted near neither Asuna nor any of his friends, and there was no telling if his savior's family wouldn't choose someone similar or worse for her to marry again. So he was going to solve that by asking her to marry him. It was a perfect plan.

That's why he wondered why Akihiko had sounded as if he was slamming his face against a table when he told him his idea. He had also urged him greatly to _tell Asuna his 'plan'_ before actually doing 'anything' about it, like going out of the blue to talk with the girl's parents.

Luckily, Sugu and Yuuna had asked if they could meet him after school that day for 'something important' and we had asked if Asuna could come too, they had been surprised while informing him that they were actually thinking of calling her too. It was almost as if they had been reading his mind or something! This was going to be perfect!

Such were the thoughts running through the gamer's head while heading down the hallway and cheerfully returning the polite greetings some of his classmates send his way as he passed…when his entire world **came to a stop**.

Sound vanished. Light died. The very air seemed to freeze.

Eyes wide, Kazuto found himself 'staring' into a distorted emptiness, a void in his very perception of the world. Something sinisterly alien…yet uncanny _familiar_ , for some reason.

 **(…YOU…)**

"…what?" muttered the boy at the strange sounds echoing from the darkness. "Who…who is there…?"

 **(…COMING…)**

"What…? How am I…how am I understanding this…?"

It was nothing more than growls and senseless screeches. It shouldn't mean anything at all. It should be terrifying for him…

 **(COMING. FOR. YOU…)**

And yet, it wasn't. it was strangely warm, welcome and nostalgic…and that made it scarier for the inhuman boy all the more, because, unlike everything else in his life he could associate with such feelings, he had no idea WHAT this was…

Once again, he opened his mouth…

 **(WHO. IS. THERE?)**

…and surprised even himself when the same inhuman and seemingly meaningless sounds emerged from his throat, as if he had always known them.

Absolute silence reigned.

And suddenly, a wave of endless and unstoppable JOY overwhelmed him, coming from the other end of the void…

"…kun? Kirigaya-kun?"

"EH?!" all but shouted the gamer while his eyes snapped open, coming face to face with the blinking and curious face of Kashiwazaka Hiyori, the girl tilting her head to the side at his startled/scared look. "A-ah, Hiyori-san, uhm…sorry about that."

"Oh, it's no problem, I sometimes space out like that too and get startled when someone breaks me out of it." waved it off his fellow first year with that carefree smile of her, making the inhuman boy smile by instinct in return. "Were you heading somewhere?"

"Ah, yes, I'm going to meet my sister and some friends in a café on a bit…what about you?"

"Nah, just going to the club areas." explained Hiyori while starting to walk alongside. "I think I will join the music club, it sounds like it could be fun!"

"Music club?" wondered Kazuto as he immediately thought of Yuuna and their endless 'musical duels'. "Hmmm…"

"Interested, Kirigaya-kun? Perhaps do you like music?" asked the silver-haired girl with an honestly curious tone.

"Yeah, you could say that I do, in many ways…"

"Why don't you come to check out the club with me, then? It won't take long and you will surely still have time to get to that meeting with your friends!"

"…sure, why not? It's always fun to discover new things to do!"

Those words said, the gamer followed after his fellow first year while engaging in innocent talk, never once looking back, trying to pretend that nothing strange had just happened.

It had probably been one of his weird dreams getting out of control again, nothing to worry about…

In that moment, however, in the lab area of a ship that was traveling through an alternative form of space…sinister, unholy and otherworldly sounds echoed loudly, filling the air with a macabre cacophony. If anyone in the ship had been awake, they would have been disturbed and horrified at the sounds, and probably shocked that the creature had never emitted such before.

It wasn't strange, though. After all, the being denominated as X-K0941had never before in 'her' life laughed with unbridled joy.

 **(I. CAN. HEAR. HIM.)**

Within the darkness of the lab, countless teeth-filled mouths twisted into monstrous versions of smiles.

 **(SOON. BROTHER.)**

The creature twisted within her tank, sinking into sleep once again, gathering strength…

 **(SOON…)**

Strength for the only reason that gave meaning to her life.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** And finally, we're done again!

This is a chapter to remind us that, despite everything, Lusus!Kirito's 'common sense' and reasoning is truly beyond alien. The 'conclusion' to which he arrives here is more than proof enough, I think, but what else is there behind it? You will know it next chapter when he probably will make his closest friends want to kill him for obvious reasons XD (And we will get the aftermath of Sugou's failed plan, maybe even he picking a school club :P) Also, ominous bit at the end. The time of the 're-encounter' keeps getting inexorably closer…

Now, though, come the 'bad' news that will probably shock you all: This story, and RU, are entering on a kinda-hiatus (Then again with how long it has been since I Updated RU it may as well already have been in one). Before you panic and start screaming/cursing me, though, know the reason.

I have FINALLY decided that it's time, to go back to my Main SAO Project, and start what I promised long ago. By the end of next month, 'One Punch-Gamer: Chains of Fate' will officially start!

Yes, that's right. Some here may not even know about my first and best SAO fic, even less about the promised sequel, but those who do know that I have delayed it more than long enough. I have re-read everything I need from Alicization multiple times and, especially, having finished recently of playing 'AW vs. SAO: Millennium Twilight' has let me put some of the finer details and plot points I was still doubtful about on their places and without doubts. The time comes now!

I will still try to Update at least this story very sporadically, though, because it's fun and enjoyable, but my main focus will be there with OPG:CoF, especially to get the first epilogue out in time, as I'm still working until the end of August, but I think I will manage XP

And well, with that said and done, I leave you all with this chapter's Omake! Enjoy it, because it will be the last one for a while together with the main fic…

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 6: Because You're Special to Me**

Kurono Kurumu knew she wasn't exactly the most perfect girl around, even if she would never accept it out loud.

She was very proud of her beauty, without a doubt, but one would need to be blind to not notice almost everyone around seemed to agree that Moka was prettier than her. She wasn't very smart when it came to academics either, something that Yukari made more than evident because of her 'genius' intellect.

If there was something she could feel completely sure of surpassing any other student in the academy it probably would be her figure, but she didn't exactly go around flaunting it to everyone anymore since she found the only one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

Sadly, Kirigaya Kazuto wasn't exactly the kind of guy who was left a drooling and entranced man upon having a pair of breasts pressed upon him. That made him more charming, in her opinion, but also a little frustrating when only the boldest of her actions seemed to cause an actual visible reaction from him, and that usually was just blushing and a bit of stuttering.

His happy and hope-filled self never changed, though, and that was, ironically, one of the things she loved the most about him. Sure, the succubus dreamed with him actually returning her feelings fully, but the way in which he was honestly kind and caring with all of them (Even with that lazy idiot of Gin-sempai) moved her heart in unexpected ways. Kurumu had never imagined she would ever meet someone like him.

That's why it was hard for her to believe what had supposedly happened the other day. When Moka's Art Teacher, Ishigami Hitomi, who was in truth a Medusa, had been discovered of being behind the disappearances of several female students by the boy himself.

She had just so happened to be busy calling her mother that day, and Yukari finishing a project for her class, reason why none of them had been present during the incident, but a shaken Moka had later told them that, when Kazuto had broken down the door and entered where Ishigami-sensei had trapped her, he had looked… _scary_.

The boy had seen the other girls, crying unheard and trapped within prisons of stone made out of their own bodies. He had stumbled just as the lunatic art teacher was about to inflict the same fate to Moka, the terrible power of the snakes growing from her head allowing her to petrify victims, all for the sake of her twisted idea of 'beauty'.

The vampire had described what followed as…traumatic, Ishigami's cockiness at thinking she could easily deal with the boy having soon turned to horror when he, apparently, shrugged off the bits of his flesh that were petrified before unceremoniously yanking on her snakes and _tearing all of them off in one go_.

Inner Moka (Who apparently was now able to talk through the rosary, somehow) had mentioned how the woman's screams of pain had probably ending up hurting her of how loud they were, Kazuto having quickly knocked her out and, somehow, devoured the torn snakes with his quickly regenerating body before making sure the frozen Moka was okay, carrying her in his arms and, somehow, proceeded to un-petrify every single girl with black snakes that now grew from his arms, then called for the faculty to take care of the half-dead art teacher.

Kurumu didn't know what was more unbelievable, if imagining her Destined One unleashing such brutality with such obvious rage, or if the fact that the vampire was apparently unfazed by it, only disturbed at the action itself. It really didn't make sense to her.

Until that moment, that is. Because she was seeing it with her own eyes.

Kanou Nagare was a student that most would have probably called 'slimy', with how creepy and sinister he was, always carrying a camera around. Even more, he was a certified pervert, and not one with innocent intentions: The boy, who was in truth a Madslug, used his gelatinous body to sneak into unseen places, take indecent pictures of girls and then blackmail them in exchange for not making said photos public. And he had become obsessed with Kurumu thanks to a few words they had exchanged during her old time, before she met Moka and Kazuto, so he had done his same modus operandi with her, forcing the girl to abandon her friends of the Newspaper Club when they were swamped with work because of a looming deadline, then made to wear indecent clothes for him to take pictures of.

When she had come back, humiliated and tired, everyone apparently was angry at her, thinking she had just decided to slack off…except for Kazuto. To everyone's surprise, the gamer had defended her, then asked her what was wrong or if she could tell them what had happened. And when she had been unable to answer beyond a "Sorry, but I can't tell you…", he had just smiled and told her that she could always count on him if anything was wrong, leaving everyone else baffled as he left the clubroom, quickly followed by the rest.

The succubus had felt both extremely happy and terribly frustrated. Her Destined One was willing to believe in her that much, yet she couldn't tell him the truth because of the 'threat' from that bastard…

That's why she had rebelled against him and told him she didn't care anymore about the pictures when he had come to tell her they would be doing 'more pictures' the next day. And that's why the enraged bastard had stolen the half-finished newspaper from the club in revenge.

And that had caused her to rush to confront him as soon as she saw it, not caring that the rest thought she was abandoning them in a moment of need. It had all been her fault, and she would be damned if she let hers and her friends' (And when had she started thinking so surely of them all like that?) work be destroyed because of that little bastard.

Of course, in hindsight, she could have tried to prepare a little better, but Nagare had seemed harmless enough beyond his ability to blackmail. She certainly hadn't been expected his true form to be nigh-immune to simple physical attacks nor the debilitating poison gas he released from his whole body. And just when it seemed that she would be victim of a horrible fate in the monster's slimy tentacles…the wall of the gym's room where they were had exploded inwards, following by a soul-chilling roar that had frozen both her attacker and herself.

Kurumu now was forced to agree with Moka's previous statement. An angry Kazuto was _terrifying_ , without a doubt. The way in which he had charged like an enraged bull against the Madslug and all but slammed the much bigger creature against the opposite wall was shocking enough, but it was his face, twisted in a furious snarl and with those unnatural red/golden eyes of his, what truly made him seem like a completely different person. The arrival through the hole of a worried-looking Moka and an awed Yukari had given her a quick explanation, though, upon seeing the letter in the little witch's hands.

The black-haired boy had found the envelope with the pictures, which she had accidentally forgotten back in the clubroom. Together with Nagare's original 'threat'…

"Kurumu-chan! Are you okay?!"

And that was when the succubus understood why the pink-haired vampire hadn't been fazed at all even in the face of such violence coming from the boy both were obviously interested in.

Because the scary brutality he had just shown…both his voice and his eyes were filled with nothing but worried concern the moment he addressed to her, as if nothing else in the world mattered to him but her safety.

She had just started nodding with a smile before she saw the massive 'cloud' of poison gas exploding around the wide-eyed Kazuto, making him fall flat on his face, paralyzed, the other girls' screams matching her own as Nagare's disgusting form rose again.

"KAZUTO!"

"Holy shit, that fucking hurt!" complained the Madslug while shaking slightly, his deformed snail-like eyes trying to focus again. "But bet you weren't expecting my poisonous gas, eh, Kirigaya Kazuto?! Now you're helpless upon my power!"

With that loud proclamation, the pervert's gelatinous body extended forward, tendrils of slime shooting to grab the unmoving boy, probably intending to use him as hostage, Moka starting to move while Yukari raised her wand…

"DON'T TOUCH HIM!"

…but Kurumu beat everyone to the punch with her scream, reality seeming to 'warp' around them as a thick mist covered their surroundings and burning branches emerged from the ground, surrounding the suddenly terrified madslug and leaving the rest open-mouthed.

"Wha-what is this?!" screamed Nagare while trying to escape, the monstrous plants emerging and snaring him everywhere. "N-NO! S-stay away!"

"Ku-Kurumu?! Are you doing this?!" shouted a wide-eyed Yukari while looking from the snarling succubus to the unnatural phenomenon. "Ho-how?!"

"I don't know, but I don't care! I'm NOT letting him touch my Destined One!"

"Illusions." suddenly spoke a serious voice from the vampire's rosary, making both her owner and the little witch to turn towards it. "Some High-Level Succubae are supposedly able to cast them, but to think that Kurumu would be able to, and one of such degree…did I truly underestimate her that much? Or is it a new motivation what has let her grow like this?"

"Woah…Moka-san, your talking rosary truly knows a lot of things!"

"For the last time, child, I'm NOT a 'talking rosary'!" snarled the Inner Moka with barely contained frustration, making the Outer one sweatdrop at that.

Come to think of it, Yukari hadn't gotten to actually meet with her Inner-self even once since she joined their strange 'group of friends'…

"S-stop this, please!" shouted Nagare while cornering himself against a wall. "Fu-fuck this, I need to esca…!"

The sudden echo of a high pitched 'sound' interrupted the madslug, visible waves of sound hitting all over his gelatinous body, making him scream in horror and pain. Shocked, Kurumu released her illusion, Yukari gasping while Moka's eyes shot towards the source of it: A once again standing Kazuto, with a strange worm-like appendage growing from his back, ended in an eyeless circular mouth filled with rough teeth, from which the hypersonic waves were coming.

"Good job, Kurumu-chan. I will take it from here."

"Kazuto!"

"You're okay!"

"I never doubted it for a second, Kazuto-san!"

"Ho-how…?! My gas…!"

"Sorry, I already became immune to it. Really caught me off guard, though…" muttered the inhuman boy before calmly walking closer to the transformed student. "Now…where are our newspapers?"

"I-in the backroom, I-I haven't touched them, I swear!" screamed Nagare with a pleading voice, before shaking while Kazuto walked closer to him. "Wha-what are you doing…?! S-stop…this hurtssss…!"

"I know, I'm the one regulating it so that it's painful but not harmful for the mass of your body." softly explained the gamer before tightly gripping one of the eye-tipped antennae of the madslug, making him scream in fear. "This is a warning that I don't want to repeat, okay? **No one hurts my loved ones…in any way**."

As if to prove his threatening words, Kazuto made the soundwaves intensity grow, making Nagare scream even louder.

"AAAAAAH!"

 **"Do you understand?"**

"YE-YES! I DO!" shouted the madslug with the last of his strength, before slumping down unconscious as the black-haired boy stopped his actions, letting the strange worm-like thing sink back into his body.

Then, he turned around as if nothing had happened and gave a thumbs-up towards the girls.

"Problem solved! I think he learned his lesson."

Blinking, the boy was surprised for a second when Kurumu literally flew into his arms, hugging him with arms and wings, before simply smiling and returning the hug, whispering soothing words to the slightly trembling succubus while Moka sighed and smiled at the scene, Yukari rushing to check on the newspapers while muttering something along the lines of _'The Succubus deserving this one'_ , even as Gin arrived at the scene saying that he had called the faculty…and deadpanning at the destroyed wall of the gym.

"…I seriously hope I'm not the one who they're going to make pay for that."

And the next day, when the whole newspaper's club was selling their recently finished edition with bright smiles…Kazuto took the chance to whisper something to a surprised Kurumu.

"Next time, don't try and solve everything on your own, okay? It's good to stand by yourself…but friends are supposed to be there to support you always, right?"

For answer, the boy got a happy nod and a mischievous kiss on the cheek, which made him blink and blush slightly while the other 2 female members of the club suddenly snapped at the sight.

And as the strangest and most lively group of Youkai Academy descended into their usual shenanigans…none of them noticed how, from a certain distance, a figure in a dark uniform carefully watched them with narrowed eyes.

Slowly, he turned around and walked away, ready to inform his 'boss'.

The Public Safety Committee needed to keep a tight eye on these ones, after all…

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** As far as I know, the whole Nagare incident is a manga-only thing that never got adapted to the anime. Which is a shame because, despite starting as the usual random 'villain of the week' setting, it actually gives Kurumu quite a bit of character development, not to mention showing for the first time how she cares for everyone as a group besides only Tsukune, and also the first time she uses her illusion powers.

Also, yeah, I skipped over/summarized Miss Snake's incident because it really didn't give much to the plot as it originally was, besides giving some Tsukune X Moka fluff, and here Lusus!Kirito's reaction to her actions and what she wanted to do was swift and brutal. Also, his birthday isn't close yet, unlike Tsukune's OxO

And yeah, manga-wise, we're about to enter the first 'major conflict' of the series. Next time, whenever that is, a certain fox and his lackeys bite more than they could ever chew…

Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	12. Chapter 10: Mankind's Limitations

Hello again, everyone! Man, it's been, what, almost a year since I last Updated this? Time sure flies without you realizing it, uh?

Anyway, for those that haven't been following my latest story, 'SAO: The Eroge' (And if you haven't, go do so if you're looking for some randomness and laughs!), I have decided on a new 'Update Schedule' for my fics now, and while Requiem Universus has sadly been dropped, Lusus Naturae is being 'revived' so to speak! Now I will update in this order: The Eroge, LN and OPG:CoF, one chapter of each before starting again :3

Now then, are you already to go back to the crazy life of the weirdest Kirito out there? (If you need, take a moment to re-read and remember how things were going up to last chapter, it may be for the best OxO) Let's hope so! Because some things are about to change…

That aside, enjoy the chapter, everyone!

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

 **PS:** This chapter was betaed by CrayZayJay! Thanks a lot for your help old pal :)!

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Mankind's Limitations**

 **September 5th, 2023. Okachimachi, Tokyo. Dicey Café, 17:30…**

Yuuki Asuna wasn't sure why she was in that small if cozy-looking café, but she was pretty sure it had something to do with a certain boy that she had a crush on and that was actually an abandoned alien experiment.

And not because lately it seemed as if everything in her life (Be it randomly choosing to play a VR game or trying to take better control of her own life) had something to do with him, no. It was because it had been Suguha and Yuuna who had called her there.

Thinking of all of that made the chestnut-haired girl stop to ponder for a moment, wondering if maybe her life wasn't heading in a way-too-crazy direction which she should try to avoid for her own sake.

Ironically, that thought only made her want to laugh. If she had to return to the path in which her life had been before that weird and bizarre boy had fallen into her pool and almost drowned, she would probably go insane.

Being little more than a doll that did what others expected of her was worse than being self-centered in her eyes.

So, yeah, maybe having a crush on what actually was some sort of mutant abomination from beyond the stars and caught in the usual madness that was life around him didn't sound like the best alternative, but, if she was completely honest, it was hard for her to imagine her life without Kazuto's presence anymore.

Even now, the memory of when their lips had almost touched that day in Aincrad before the Sleeping Knights interrupted them made her whole body shiver…and, now that she thought about it, that was also probably related to why she had been called there that day.

Asuna may have been a teenager, but she wasn't stupid. At this point, she would have to have been blind _and_ brain-damaged (Or maybe lack most common sense like the alien boy did) to not notice the feelings of the many girls which surrounded the entity called Kirigaya Kazuto.

If his unnatural charisma to attract human females had something to do with being an alien or not, the Yuuki Heiress didn't know, but the fact was that all the friends he had (Not counting freaking Kayaba Akihiko) were girls. Out of those 7 (Counting herself), one thought he was something amazing she 'needed' to study and learn about (Shino), one thought he was very cool and was grateful for his help in saving her cat when she was younger (Keiko), and the rest all had one degree or another of romantic feelings for him.

Rika and Shiori (Or Lisbeth and Argo depending on where you asked) weren't as fully convinced of these feelings, or at least that's what she thought. Frankly, she had seen them being less and less hesitant about the obvious conflict they had between what their hearts felt and the fact that, well, the boy they were feeling said things for was actually some kind of madman's eldritch nightmare.

Yuuna had also been in that situation (And herself too, honestly), but she had apparently managed to overcome it at some point. Asuna no longer saw that hesitation in the singer-wannabe's eyes whenever she interacted with Kazuto.

And then…there was Kirigaya Suguha, the person the chestnut-haired girl both envied and was worried about the most out of all of them.

The young kendoka was clearly head over heels for her adopted brother. Even if the Yuuki Heiress couldn't properly understand how that had come about, she could also tell that, out of all of them, she was without a doubt the one most 'devoted' to him and the one whose feelings were the purest and most honest to an almost scary degree.

Suguha _didn't mind_ Kazuto's true nature at all and apparently never had. Asuna didn't know if it was a psychological thing from having been raised together or something else, but the fact was that there was never any hesitation or doubt in the girl's gaze when the black-haired boy said or did something that was abnormal beyond degree. Even the likes of her or Yuuna still froze slightly if they saw him 'transforming' a part of him, but the young kendoka didn't even blink.

She was also the only one of them that had ever seen him in his 'True Form' at some point (Though, apparently, the Sleeping Knights had too, even if none of them apparently wanted to talk about it…except Yuuki, but everyone shut her up whenever she tried to). None of them had been able to muster anything resembling the courage enough to ask for such a thing after hearing the descriptions of it.

Rika had seen it partially at some point and it had left the strong girl completely traumatized for weeks. Asuna didn't know if what was more admirable, if that she had recovered from it without lasting consequences or that she had still managed to fall for the alien boy despite it.

All of that made the chestnut-haired girl come to the conclusion that this probably wasn't a call for a simple social meeting or just to have a drink between friends. Whatever they talked about that evening, it may drastically change their weird group's dynamics forever.

…it was still much better than having stayed at home dealing with her mother's volatile temper, though. Apparently, something big had happened with her so-called 'fiancée' yesterday, a car incident in the docks involving alcohol or something along those lines, and Yuuki Kyouko had been even less amused than Yuuki Shouzou was. And her father was the man's boss.

As selfish as it sounded, though, Asuna couldn't really pretend she cared that much for the whole thing. Sure, Sugou Nobuyuki had been polite enough all the times they had met, but he had always possessed a 'vibe' that unsettled her slightly, not to mention he had started becoming quite 'pushy' when she started making it clear that she didn't wish to marry him…

"Ugh…why isn't he here yet?"

"Ca-calm down, Yuuna-san, I'm sure Onii-chan must be just about to arrive…"

"Still! He has no excuse to be late when he's…you know!"

"…we kind of keep insisting on him not doing anything 'strange' for mundane things like arriving at places, remember?"

"O-oh, yeah…so-sorry, Sugu-chan. Guess today I'm just a bit…"

"Yes, don't worry, I don't blame you. With what we're planning on doing, it's no wonder that…oh, Asuna-san!"

"Hi there, Suguha-chan, Yuuna." greeted the Yuuki Heiress with a friendly smile as the other two girls walked over. "I was wondering why you weren't here yet, but if you were outside waiting for Kazuto-kun it makes a lot of sense."

"…you don't seem surprised by the fact we were waiting for him." commented the oldest girl present while the owner came to take their orders.

"Well, no offense girls, I consider you friends, but he's kinda the only reason I could think for you two to invite me here." explained Asuna while the other two females ordered simple drinks. "We don't really have much more in common."

"Now that you say it, that's true. Maybe we should see about fixing that sometime soon." smiled Yuuna before sighing and looking at the chestnut-haired girl straight in the eyes. "Do you know what this is about?"

"I think I can get an idea." taking a deep breath, the Yuuki Heiress prepared herself for the worst. "Is it about how Kazuto-kun almost kissed me?"

"Yes and no, really." commented Suguha while they received their drinks from the owner with a smile. "This actually started with Yuuna here kissing him, he trying to do the same with you and then actually kissing me, really, but that's not the specific reason."

It took Asuna's brain a few seconds to fully assimilate what the youngest of the three had just said and, when it did, only one word could escape her shocked self.

"What?!"

"Okay, here is the thing Asuna, because I'm old enough to say things without hesitation here and I think we all have delayed it long enough: Do you like Ki…Kazuto?" bluntly questioned Yuuna with a serious look.

"…ye-yes, I do." mumbled the chestnut-haired girl with a small blush, still trying to recover from her shock. "Bu-but wait, you say you kissed him and…he still tried to kiss me and kissed Suguha-chan? That's…!"

"Asuna-san, this is Onii-chan we're talking about." interrupted the young kendoka before the Yuuki Heiress could go any further. "As important as those kisses were for you and me, you have to consider he was most likely trying to understand what Yuuna had done."

"I…I see…" muttered Asuna while looking down at her drink, unsure of what to feel. "Bu-but then, what did you call…?"

"We have decided we're going to end this once and for all, no matter the outcome. Our lives are weird enough as they are without us making this even more complicated." declared Yuuna with a burning determination in her eyes, literally raising a closed fist at her own words. "We're going to ask Kazuto himself what he feels about each one of us! Then, this whole thing will be solved!"

"…I'm not sure if that's…the best idea." whispered the chestnut-haired girl while looking away, biting her lips at the older girl's sharp look. "Be-besides, Argo and Lisbeth also like him, you know?! Shouldn't you have called them over too?"

"We know, but he didn't try to kiss any of them. Just you…and me." pointed out Suguha with a small frown, before giving her a resigned smile. "That's why we decided it would be better to try and solve this between us and see what happens."

"But…aren't you scared of knowing the answer?" finally asked Asuna while looking at them with clear fear.

It was at that moment that the Yuuki Heiress fully realized how deep her feelings for the strange and inhuman boy went. How much she had grown from seeing him as the person who gave her life a new meaning to being completely unable to think of said life without him being close to her.

And how things went in this 'meeting' could very well make them too awkward to even see each other for who knew how long at best or completely fracture their little 'group of friends' forever.

If that was how things had to end, then, as cowardly as it sounded, she would really prefer to just continue being simply frie…

"Woah, finally here. Man, I should have kept a better eye on the time…" spoke a familiar voice from the café's entrance, making all three girls freeze in place. "Oh, there you are, Yuuna, Sugu! Sorry for the wait, I was…AH! Asuna!"

Any greeting the first two girls were about to reply with once vanished when Kazuto's eyes widened and he all but shot at the chestnut-haired girl's side, an unusually intense look in his eyes.

"Ka-Kazuto-kun? Is something wro…?"

Asuna was unable to finish talking, because, at that moment, Kirigaya Kazuto did the last thing she would have ever expected him to do, especially in a public place like that.

No, he didn't transform into some unholy abomination all of a sudden. Her heart may have been able to take that.

He _dropped to one knee_ and held her hands between his.

The entire bar fell silent, people that had been staring discreetly since the boy's small outburst now looking in open shock even as more looked on in surprise.

"O-Onii-chan?!"

"Kazuto?! What are you do…?"

"Asuna, don't marry Sugou Nobuyuki! He's not good enough man for you!" fervently declared the alien experiment, his every word filled with passion and honesty. "Please, marry me instead!"

Several gasps echoed through the crowd, whispers and incredulous exclamations filling the background.

Suguha looked as if she had just choked on air, the girl's face twisting into a weird mix of horror and disbelief.

Yuuna barely fared any better, the songstress looking as if her soul had just been torn from her body and crushed in a particularly hilarious way.

"…yes." softly mumbled Asuna in an almost mechanical way once her heart started beating again and she remembered she had to breathe.

Kazuto's beautiful and relieved smile greeted her at her answer.

All around the Dicey Café, the customers suddenly started clapping and cheering, more than a few giving out loud congratulations while a few more discreet ones whispered scandalous things on the background, Andrew (The owner of the place) trying to regain order and telling them the event wasn't a spectacle.

"Thanks, Asuna…I promise I will be the best husband ever and make you very happy." softly promised the black-haired boy before sitting on the chair next to hers and letting out a happy sigh. "Ah, I'm really glad that worked out…so, what did you call me here for, you t…? Uh? Sugu? Yuuna?"

"Heh…Onii-chan is going to marry Asuna-san…heh…" escaped out of Suguha's mouth in an almost broken tone, making it hard to say if she was about to laugh or cry.

"Ah…I was talking big a moment ago, but that was honestly because I really thought he would choose me…how silly of me, of course he would choose the kind rich girl who saved his life…" mumbled Yuuna with an unfocused gaze and a thoroughly defeated tone, her shoulders shaking terribly. "Guess some things are just…not meant to be, uh…?"

"Di-did I say something to upset you?!" asked Kazuto with clear worry while looking from one girl to the other, even as Asuna snapped out of her happy-daze and looked from him to them worriedly, unsure if she should just explain things.

In the end, though, as the one that had 'won' (As unexpected as it had been for her too), she decided it was the best for her to be honest about everything.

"You see, Kazuto-kun…Yuuna-san and Suguha-san are depressed because…you asked me to marry you instead of them." spoke the chestnut-haired girl with a slightly sad tone, hoping the alien boy would get what she meant with just that.

The answer…wasn't what she was expecting. At all.

"Oh…is that so? I'm so sorry, Yuuna, Sugu! I didn't realize that would make you sad…should I ask you two too right now?" questioned the black-haired boy with a sincere smile.

Both girls snapped out of their daze faster than a bullet shot from a sniper rifle, their eyes and mouths wide as saucers as they STARED at Kazuto.

Feeling something akin to a chaotic explosion going off inside her (And idly noticing that a couple of the customers still curious were now staring at their table with completely shocked looks), Asuna was quick to stand up, leave a bill on the table that more than covered the price for their drinks and drag her new kinda-fiancée out of the establishment, making a sharp gesture for the other two to follow.

She completely ignored the boy's confused demands for an explanation until they were over 3 streets away from the Dicey Café, at which point she finally let go of his hand and stared right into his eyes with the most intense look she had ever used, Suguha and Yuuna pausing behind him as if to cut off any escape.

Not that she thought he would try to do such a thing, of course. It just wasn't in his bizarre nature to do so.

"Kazuto-kun. Explain what you just said. Now."

"E-eh? What do you mean? I just asked if Yuuna and Sugu would feel better if I also asked them to marry me right now. I mean, I asked you because of how worried I was after what happened yesterday with Sugou-san, but I never thought it would make them feel ba…"

"Wait. Stop." silenced him Yuuna before taking a deep breath. "Kazuto…are you saying you asked her to marry you because of something bad that happened with her supposed fiancée?"

"Yes. Sugou Nobuyuki is a bad man that was planning bad things and didn't really care for Asuna. She's one of the people I care for the most in the world, so of course I couldn't let that stand." firmly answered the black-haired boy with a hint of rage in his eyes, which truly surprised all the girls present.

"…you're the cause of what happened with Sugou yesterday, right?" questioned Asuna with no small amount of surprise.

"…to be fair, he tried to drug me and throw me off a warehouse's roof first." sheepishly replied Kazuto while scratching the back of his head. "A-and I made sure he wasn't that hurt after everything was said and done…"

"He did what?! Onii-chan, that's the kind of things you immediately tell us about, idiot!" replied Suguha while squeezing his hand, though there was no denying the immense relief that seemed to fill her. "…also, you shouldn't just go blurting things like 'marriage' just because of such events, you should go and talk them over with the person involved. Didn't the incident with Shiori-san back in SAO teach you anything about confusing a girl's feelings?!"

Then, for the third time that night, the alien experiment in human form said something no one present was expecting of him.

"What? Of course it did! I mean every single word I said before! I want to marry Asuna not only because I don't want her to marry Sugou Nobuyuki, but also because she's one of the most important people in the world for me. I love her and I want to make her happy." answered Kazuto as if it was the most normal thing in the world, not noticing how the three females around him had frozen once again. "And the same goes for you, Sugu, Yuuna…I need to graduate High School and get to a good university first, though. Then I can get a good enough job so that we can have a happy family!"

"…heh…heheh…ahahahahah! O-oh God, I…I can't even…hah…!" to the boy's utter confusion, Yuuna suddenly seemed unable to keep herself standing and fell down, laughing with a strange mix of happiness and despair. "I don't even…Heavens, of all the things I thought you would say, I don't know how that never…crossed my mind…"

"Ka-Kazuto-kun, d-do you know what you're saying?! Yo-you say you…love all of us?!" squeaked Asuna with a blushing face, trying to calm down her heart and failing to look as outraged as she felt she should feel. "Tha-that's…you can't just say that! Tell him, Suguha-chan!"

"Onii-chan loves me…Onii-chan loves me…Onii-chan loves me…" continuously repeated the young kendoka with a dazed smile, her grip on the confused alien experiment's hand having tightened so much it would have hurt him have been a normal human.

"…of course that would be her reaction." simply commented Yuuna while standing up again, ignoring Asuna's gaping look as she dusted herself off. "…Kazuto, you know you can't really be with, let alone legally marry, all of us, right?"

"Why not?" asked the boy with confusion while tilting his head. "I love all of you and I'm willing to make you happy! I swear I will do it, better than anyone else!…also, I'm pretty sure polygamy is still practiced in some parts of the w…"

"Okay, we get it, you're serious, stop!" Asuna silenced him with a burning face before he could finish his sentence, looking at the other two girls who bore wildly different expressions (Weirdly happy in Suguha's case and happily resigned in Yuuna's). "I…don't even know what I should answer you right now."

"I mean, in hindsight, we should have seen this coming…this idiot only cares about making those around him happy, after all. E-even…if I didn't think he actually _loved_ us that way…" muttered the oldest girl with a heavy blush, Kazuto looking at her in confusion as she did so.

"Huh…I wasn't being obvious enough? O-or maybe it's because…you don't feel the same? I-I thought the kiss meant you did!"

Everyone fell silent, even the young kendoka snapping out of her happy daze to _stare_ at the inhuman boy.

"…oh heavens, it's not that he's utterly dense. He's just…psychologically unable to notice hints about feelings and also completely unable to make his own clear without saying them openly, isn't he?" theorized Asuna with a mix of wonder and utter disbelief.

"…Onii-chan, I love you." declared Suguha with sudden intensity, making the alien experiment blink and look at her.

"Ah…I know that, Sugu, but you see…I…love you more than as a sis…"

"Yes. Me too." clarified the young kendoka with utter seriousness, making Kazuto blink in surprise, then gasp in shock.

"Yo-you do?! Since when?!"

"…okay, theory confirmed," casually commented Suguha before, without any shame, wrapping her arms around her adopted brother's neck and sealing his lips with her own.

The two older girls gaped in utter shock, even as the black-haired boy blinked in surprise several times before wrapping his own arms around the young kendoka and starting to kiss her back, to her clear delight.

"Puah…Sugu…" mumbled the blushing alien experiment once their lips separated, clearly caught off guard but not displeased by the intensity of the kiss.

"Onii-chan…is there any way I can get ahead of Asuna-san? I want to be the first to marry you." happily declared Suguha with the brightest smile of her life.

"Wha-what?! Suguha-chan, don't talk as if we had agreed to this madness!" shouted Asuna with a burning face once she snapped out of her shock. "…be-besides, he already asked me to marry him first!"

"You just said that you didn't agree with him wanting to marry us all, though, so, if you want to back off…"

"I-I didn't say that! Ju-just that it was a crazy idea, that's all!"

"That still sounds like the farthest thing from a confirmation, though…"

 _"…Gods…I don't know what's crazier, that I'm hearing someone arguing about such a thing or that I'm having to resist the temptation of joining said argument."_ idly thought Yuuna before releasing a resigned sigh, a smile once again touching her lips as she stared towards the confused but happy boy standing between the two 'arguing' (That is, Asuna shouting while Suguha easily made her dig her grave deeper) girls. _"Then again…maybe it's because he's worth having such a crazy and interesting lifestyle."_

With those thoughts in mind, the songstress walked forward and ended the not-discussion by trapping Kazuto into a big hug, drawing the girls' attention to her and laughing at how they overreacted because of it.

After all, there would be more than enough time in the future to let things be clearer on what they would do with their lives and feelings. Or about the implications the boy's nature (Both physical and mental) would have on such.

At that moment, though, all that Shigemura Yuuna cared about was that the person she loved felt the same. Problems could come later in as many numbers as they wanted for all she cared.

And as if answering to the human girl's innocent thoughts…a warp in the fabric of space appeared in that moment on the outer edge of the Milky Way, violently spewing out an organic-looking ship.

Slowly coming back to life after having exited Fragmented Space, the Tryum vessel started waking up its crew, making all systems move from 'Sleep Mode' to 'Active'.

Within its depths, on the biggest containment tank of the central lab, X-K0941's many eyes snapped open.

The time of Destiny was about to arrive…

* * *

 _"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity."_ ― Edgar Allan Poe (Does that sound familiar to you?)

* * *

 **September 10th, 2023. Outskirts, Tokyo. A certain apartment complex, 10:30…**

Yamada Ren and his wife Himiko were two very ordinary and average people, with nothing too remarkable in their lives.

At least until recently, that is, when Akane, their terminally sick daughter, had been kidnapped from the hospital during the night in very strange and disturbing circumstances, which had caused police officers and journalists to start hounding their every move for months.

Between their grief at the disappearance of their only child (Despite knowing how little she would live anyway because of that tumor in her brain) and the anger they felt towards those that kept harassing them just to get more details about their tragedy, it was no wonder that they had been caught so off guard when something 'unusual' happened.

It started as a small thing, really, nothing they would give a second thought to. In fact, neither the man nor the woman was sure when the young girl with the twin-tails and her cat had first walked by their home. With everything going on, it was probably the last thing they would have paid attention to.

But as time passed, the middle schooler and her pet would still walk past. Even after the police stopped coming and the scoop-hungry journalists lost interest, the young girl and the cat could still sometimes be seen walking by their home.

And that's when they realized both her presence and the fact that she was actually **staring** at their house. In fact, a couple times Himiko even caught the mysterious little girl and her unusually still pet simply standing on the opposite end of the street, looking silently towards their home.

Of course, at first they tried to dismiss it as they simply being paranoid. After all, with everything that had happened, getting a bit paranoid wasn't too shocking. However, as the weeks passed and the middle schooler and her cat continued showing up, the married couple truly started to feel scared.

They were just starting to consider calling the police yesterday…when someone rang their bell, terrifying them to the core.

Almost dreading what they would find, Ren and Himiko had opened the door together…and found the twin-tailed little girl and her equally unsetting cat waiting for them.

And then…she bowed down and apologized for stalking their home for so long? Saying she had to make sure no authorities were keeping an eye on them anymore? And that she had been convinced to do so under the idea that 'there was nothing less suspicious that a little girl with her cat'?

The couple didn't have enough heart to tell Ayano Keiko (As she introduced herself) that she had actually ended being very suspicious, even more when she told them to come that day to that specific direction for the sake of _their daughter_ and to not tell anyone. Then, she apologized again before Pina, her cat, somehow shot a weird 'gas' out of its mouth. Next thing they remembered, they were staring in confusion at the door, the girl and her pet gone.

Arguing about what to do had been less and smaller than what they thought it would. In the end, it all came down to that, no matter how strange or sinister things looked, they wanted to see their daughter again. If this was some kind of threat or invitation from whoever had kidnapped her…then they would face the consequences head-on.

They certainly weren't expecting this strange and, by the look of things and the area around it, recently remodeled apartment building.

Even less that, upon entering the lobby, a nervous-looking black-haired boy who looked no older than 15 would be waiting for them.

"Ah…good morning, Miss and Mister Yamada. I'm Kirigaya Kazuto." introduced himself the stranger before looking towards the stairs. "Meri…uhm, that is, Akane-san is waiting for you upstairs."

"…what? Yo-you mean…our daughter is here?!" all but shouted the woman with utter shock.

"Ye-yes, she has been for the past few months, actually. Hiding for…her and your own safety, really." explained Kazuto while anxiously looking from them to the ceiling.

"…if things hadn't been so strange lately, I would think you're just trying to pull off a terrible joke, young man." declared the man with a cold undertone, eyes narrowed towards the teenager. "Are you insinuating you're the one who kidnapped our daughter?"

"In…a manner of speaking…yes." confessed the strange boy while looking down in shame. "Bu-but only because…I wanted to save her. I didn't want her to die."

"Are you…friends with our daughter, Kazuto-kun?" questioned Himiko after several seconds of silence, a mix of pity and kindness in her tone.

"More or less…we met playing the VRMMORPG Sword Art Online's Beta, then again in the full game, where I accidentally learned about…her condition…"

"Then you would know that all doctors said there was nothing that could be done for our Akane." cut him off Ren with a serious if nervous look, wondering why the so-called Kazuto put him so much on edge despite looking like just a skittish teenager. "So why did you even think you could…?!"

"…mom? Dad?"

Stopping his words abruptly, the man felt his heart skip a beat. At his side, his wife covered her mouth as tears filled her eyes.

Awkwardly but looking extremely happy, Yamada Akane looked at her parents from the building's first flight of stairs. And the young girl didn't look just fine, she looked _healthy_. Healthier than she had in over a year. Even her hair was back, looking as lustrous as it had before the doctors had to completely shave her because of the chemotherapy.

"A…Akane?"

"About your question?" interrupted Kazuto with an even more awkward look than before. "Let's just say…I have something most doctors don't."

Any question that would have sprung from that was forgotten in favor of the girl that was known in the virtual world as Merida, leader of the Sleeping Knights, running down the stairs and all but jumping through half the lobby's distance to tackle-hug her parents, actually sending both adults to the grown as she cried in happiness.

"Mom…dad…I'm so happy to see you…!"

"Akane…oh, Akane, dear, it's really you!"

"Ho-how…? It can't…I mean…"

"I will…well, Kirito…Kazuto, that is, has insisted he will explain, but for now…shut up, dad."

Ren did just that, instead simply hugging his daughter and crying himself while whispering how much he loved her. Himiko did just the same, the family looking happier than ever before.

Watching all of it, the inhuman boy standing not far from them smiling. Truly, this was a beautiful moment that couldn't be…

"Hey, was that Akane-san who just ran downstairs?" came a new voice into the scene before Waryum the Tryum made himself known, walking out of the small elevator at one side of the lobby while looking at a list he had in his hand. "Because we just ran out of milk and fresh fish and it's her turn to…"

The 6-eyed alien trailed off, blinking up and realizing the Yamada family was STARING at him while a panicked Kazuto was shaking his hands and, a bit uselessly now, trying to motion for him to not step out of the elevator.

Then the Konno twins ran downstairs, panicked looks in their faces.

"Kazuto-kun, you need to get Akane's family out of the…! Oh."

"See, nee-chan? I told you we wouldn't get down before Waryum-san did." sighed Yuuki before smiling brightly towards the two stunned adults on the ground. "Hi there, I'm Yuuki! You must be Meri…uhm, Akane's parents, right? She has told us so much about you! Like, last week when we were trying to see who could climb up the side of the building faster she was totally bragging about…!"

"Ehm, Yuuki?" stopped her Kazuto with a resigned look. "We…still haven't gotten to explain that part to them."

"…oh." mumbled the youngest of the sisters with a suddenly awkward smile.

"…I'm just a guy with a very complex costume." said Waryum while waving his hands in a very childish-looking way, backing away into the elevator. "You totally didn't just see an alien step out into this lobby…"

"Waryum-san, stop watching Star Wars. You can't use The Force." groaned Akane while standing up and looking at her parents with an undecipherable expression. "Mom, dad…I'm cured now. I don't have that tumor anymore. And…that's because…"

Without hesitation, the young girl's right arm mutated and shifted, 'opening' in a quite disturbing way as black flesh and muscle bloated and let a scimitar-like bone longer than an adult's torso emerge from within.

"…I'm an alien now."

"Hybrid." 'helpfully' corrected Kazuto with a deadpanning look. "I keep telling you, you're at best half alien."

For all answer, both adults stared with wide eyes towards their daughter mutated arm…before fainting at the same time, only the alien boy's quick movement preventing their heads from crashing into the ground.

"…well, that could have gone better." sighed Akane with a resigned tone as her arm returned to normal.

"Look at the bright side, Merida! At least they didn't start screaming and crashed into a wall trying to run like Jun's older brother did!"

"Yuu…you're not helping."

"Dammit, you children need to start telling me properly when you have a 'meeting' like this planned!"

"So-sorry, Waryum-jii, I was sure you knew this was today…"

"Then stop assuming and start verifying things better, X-K…I mean, Kazuto!"

Half an hour later, the Sleeping Knights minus Akane were sitting on their apartment (Or at least Waryum's, where they usually hung up despite having the whole building for themselves) drinking some cold tea. At one side, An Si-eun looked through the biggest window (Through which Suguha and Kage-chan had crashed once upon a time) how their leader and her parents walked down the street, the young girl in the middle and holding their hands.

"They were…more upset about knowing they couldn't just take Akane-chan home than about the whole 'half-alien' thing." commented the bespectacled woman with a soft tone.

"All things considered, they took it better than most, and they understood it's because her 'condition' would put them and us all at risk if someone examined her. Spending the day with her here in Tokyo will probably help them calm down a bit, but…" trailing off, Aiko sighed as she dropped her head on the couch. "I really can't believe Kirito-kun managed to pull this off."

"Yeah, that friend of his who came up with the plan and her helper must be awesome!" commented Yuuki with a happy look. "Wish I could get to see her alien cat, though…"

"And I still can't believe there is someone out there that can so casually let their cat be turned into an alien monster just to help an even bigger alien monster help us contact our families safely…" mumbled Daiki while finishing his drink. "Man, the world sure is crazy, uh?"

"Jun, be nice. Kirito-san is no monster." scolded Nobu with a frown as he bopped the young boy's head. "He has more than proved that to us."

"Ouch! Dammit Tecchi, I was just making a joke!"

"Well, as always, your jokes suck." chuckled Asami while standing up. "I'm going to make some sandwiches, I'm starving. Any special requests? Talken?"

"U-uhm, cheese and ham is fine, thank you." replied Atsuchi with a shaky smile.

"As boring as ever…what about you, Clovis?" continued the girl while looking at the teenager hanging upside down from the ceiling.

"Chicken, mustard and a lot of tomato." absently commented Kaito while reading the manga he held in his hand, the image of a bald man in a ridiculous jumpsuit and cape on the cover. "Thanks in advance, Nori."

"No problem pal! Also, you should try and stop hanging like that all the time…you're _not_ Spiderman. And he didn't spend half his life doing that." deadpanned the girl before walking towards the kitchen, grinning as she saw a familiar six-legged alien emerging. "Hiya Waryum! Had a good meal?"

"Yeah, Oguro-san's ramen is just addictive…" commented the Tryum while nodding towards Asami as he walked into the living room, his six eyes blinking in surprise at noticing something. "Wait…did Kazuto already go back home?"

"That he did." answered Si-eun while walking away from the window. "He said he wanted to make a special lunch for his little sister today, something about proving he would be a 'good husband', so he hurried back home."

"I…I don't even want to know what THAT is about." sighed Waryum before simply walking past the living room, noticing the twins pensive looks. "…what? Regretting not wanting to contact your aunt?"

"No, it's not that, Waryum-kun. Our aunt will be better thinking we're gone, really, and, as you know…it had been quite a long time since we even considered her family." sadly replied Aiko with a wistful smile. "We would have liked to tell Dr. Kurahashi, but everyone pointed out how bad an idea that was because of his position…"

"…and I was wondering how exactly being married to Kirito would work out." added Yuuki while crossing her arms and making everyone in the room freeze, their eyes shooting towards the 13-years-old with shock. "I mean, sure, he can probably stay human most of the time, but how would he even have babies being what he is? Hmm…wonder if he would use his tentacles to…?"

"YUU, DON'T SAY ANOTHER WORD!"

"E-eh?! Nee-chan, what's wrong?! You look pale!"

"Okay, who the hell let her watch television till late again?! Or unsupervised with a PC?! This is Yuuki we're talking about, people!"

"Yes, that's a borderline crime!"

"O-oi, don't talk as if I wasn't here! Or as if I was a baby! I will let you know I read up everything about the bi-birds and the bees in Clovis' compu…!"

"CLOVIS!"

"…oh damn."

"Stop running, you bastard! You're going to pay for corrupting my little Yuu!"

"She was very corrupted since we started hanging out with Kazuto, don't bla…GAH! Ran, what the hell?! Did you just try to stab me with that bone-sword?!"

"Hey! No bringing out bio-weapons in my apartment, you crazy kids! Gods, and I thought this day couldn't get any worse…"

Staring at the chaos in which the apartment quickly dissolved into, An Si-eun couldn't help but chuckle.

Sure, maybe they were trapped in one of the most bizarre situations they could have ever imagined, and maybe now she could turn her hair into some extremely long and creepy-looking alien tendrils that could easily bend steel, but what truly mattered was that her second family was all together and happy.

The future may be uncertain, but as long as they stuck together, even with friendly alien experiments and actual aliens living with them, things could only get even better…right?

* * *

 _"When you think everything is alright…it's just because you don't know what's actually wrong"_ – Anonymous (And 100% true).

* * *

 **December 31st, 2023. Kawagoe, Saitama. A small temple of the city, 23:50…**

On that night, quite a lot of people were gathered in the unusually lively temple, chatting or enjoying the food from the many stalls that had been raised around the religious building. Among them, a relatively big group of teenagers that wasn't as normal as they looked stood out, if only for the fact that one of them had a crow on his head, another two smaller ones on her shoulders and the youngest one a cat half-hanging from one of her own.

"Just 10 minutes to the New Year…" commented Keiko while scratching Pina's head with a small smile, turning to look at her favorite siblings. "Have you wished for anything special, Kazuto-san, Suguha-san?"

"That I do well in the upcoming Kendo Nationals." smiled grinned the youngest Kirigaya while ruffling the younger girl's hair, making her pout while Huginn and Muninn cawed from her shoulder, Pina lazily purring in answer from his master's own. "What about you, Onii-chan?"

"Lots of things!" happily declared the inhuman boy while Kage-chan cawed in agreement from his head, before enthusiastically starting to count. "That everyone keeps being happy, that my friends have a great year, that I manage to ace my exams, that I can get a good job after graduating to be a good hus…!"

"Wait, what was that last thing?" asked Shiori with a raised eyebrow while turning towards Kazuto, only to blink upon seeing Asuna and Suguha covering his mouth with nervous smiles. "…uh?"

"Hah, you know Kazuto, he just likes to say a lot of random things all the time!" laughed Yuuna with an awkward look before quickly pointing towards a specific stand. "Oh, hey, look! Candy apples! Who wants some? My treat!"

"You know, it's kind of obvious you're trying to hide something…but I'm not going to say no to some free candy." chuckled Shino while adjusting her glasses, even as Keiko cheered and rushed past her towards the stand. "Hey now, don't eat too much Keiko-chan! We have another project to work on tomorrow!"

"Eh?! Bu-but it's going to be New Year! Ca-can't I have a free day? Pina and I will be a bit exhau…"

"My mom will bake us some of her special cookies."

"Count us ready for anything, Shino-san!"

"Meow."

"…you know, I'm almost sad we didn't become friends with those two earlier. They're a blast to have around." chuckled Rika while taking another bite of the cotton candy she had bought earlier. "I'm going to pass on those apples, though, don't think bloating myself with candy is the best way to start the New Year…"

"…the-then can I have a bite of your cotton candy, Rika?" asked Kazuto while staring at the pinkish sweet with almost childish awe, making everyone deadpan at him.

"Hey, buy your own stuff, Ka…ugh…ah…s-stop making that face!" half-shouted the blushing brown-haired girl to the boy's confusion, finally abandoning the 'kicked puppy-look' he had unconsciously adopted when she started answering. "Fi-fine, you can have ONE bite! Bu-but make sure to…"

"Thanks a lot!" grinned the alien experiment before, with almost childish glee, taking a big bite from the exact same place she had done a few seconds ago, making her blush grow. "Hmm…delicious! Oh, and I think I even tasted a bit of your saliva, Ri…uh? Rika?!"

"Aaaand she's out. Dammit, for someone that likes to tease quite a bit she's surprisingly easy to fluster, uh?" commented Shiori while helping the girl with now swirling eyes to stand again. "Hey, Kii-bou, give me a hand. This one needs something cold to drink so she can 'cool off'."

"Right away, Argo-sensei!" replied Kazuto with practiced ease while effortlessly picking Rika bridal style, making her squeal. "To the closest stand selling cold tea!"

"Ka-Kazuto, le-let me g…! agh! Damn you, Ar…Shiori!"

"Heh, you're welcome, Liz-chan~"

"…ugh…you two know that, if those two keep going like that, they're going to completely fall for him very soon, right?" groaned Asuna as she saw the three walking away, exasperation and a small bit of jealousy filling her at the sight."

"Yes, but in case you haven't noticed, trying to 'cover things up' isn't really working, Asuna. As Miss super-secret here just proved, it's becoming quite pointless to hide that Onii-chan has no problem talking about getting married." commented Suguha while massaging her forehead, ignoring Yuuna's shout of outrage at her declaration. "If anything, we should be glad neither Shino-san nor Keiko-chan see him _like that_. After all, from there it's only a few words until he specifies 'marrying several girls'."

"…please, tell me we at least have made _some_ progress in dissuading him of that idea in these last months." muttered the songstress with a small hint of despair.

"Are you kidding? His lack of common sense, random innocence regarding his feelings and earnest desire to make us all happy are literally the most terrifying combination possible." retorted Suguha before looking to the side with a small blush. "Besides…it's not as if we have been trying too hard ourselves…"

"Ehm, well…that is…" mumbled Asuna with a red face while Yuuna looked away with a similar one, as if refusing to meet the others' gazes. "…i-it's just unfair how much he throws us off balance when saying he loves us! Why does he have to be so damn honest and direct now that he knows the truth?!"

"I can't believe the day I would complain about a boy being exactly that would arrive." sighed the oldest of the three before looking up at the stars with happy resignation. "Figures that the biggest problem I would have wouldn't actually be the boy I liked being from another galaxy, but that he sees no problem in loving more than one girl and is completely honest and innocent about it…"

"…so, hypothetically…if we can't manage to make him realize he's being foolish, who gets to be his first bride?" asked Suguha as casually as one would question about the weather, catching both other girls off guard and making them freeze. "Well, seeing no one is interesting, I'm calling dibs!"

"Tha-that's stupid, Suguha-chan! Don't say silly things!" shouted Asuna with a crimson face…before looking with weird determination towards the younger girl. "Be-besides, that's obviously me, I'm the only one he actually has asked to so far!"

"Yeah, because your fiancée was a creep and actually tried to kill him make it look like an accident." reminded Yuuna with an annoyed tone, making the Yuuki Heiress grimace at remembering the details of the Sugou Incident. "What became of him, anyway?"

"He's still in prison. Even if he had managed to get off the whole 'horrible car accident while seemingly drunk'-thing, my family's involvement caused that the drug he tried to use in Kazuto-kun was found." scoffed the chestnut-haired girl with an unnatural edge on her voice. "Between that and how he kept blabbering things about a 'monster kid', he and his driver are going to be sharing a cell for quite some time. Heh, you should have seen how pissed my mom was…"

"Somehow, I think I don't really want to see such a thing." dryly commented Suguha before starting to walk away. "C'mon now, it's almost 12! Let's get Onii-chan and the rest together to welcome the New Year!"

"In that, we can agree right away, Sugu." laughed Yuuna with a bright smile…before casually adding something more. "Also, as the one who took his first kiss, I'm obviously the best choice for being his wife before any of you."

When he returned around a minute later, followed by an embarrassed Rika with a cold tea in hand and a laughing Shiori, Kazuto wondered why the 3 girls were smiling so tensely at each other, as he was sure they had stopped doing so for months now.

Then Shino arrived carrying a bunch of candy apples (With Keiko already happily munching on her own) and he forgot about that in favor of eagerly helping the bespectacled girl handing them to everyone, before quickly biting his own happily.

All of them cheered and laughed together when the fireworks signaling the year's start started, before the inhuman boy invited them to have dinner at their home, saying their mother would surely appreciate the extra company.

At that moment, on a certain apartment at Tokyo outskirts, the Sleeping Knights laughed and ate with their families as they welcomed the New Year, Waryum the Tryum sitting with them and wondering if he should feel out of place…or happy that, for the first time since an eternity, he actually felt what being 'in family' felt like.

All in all, it was truly a beautiful and peaceful night…

And the strange and organic-looking ship suddenly 'flashing' into existence behind the moon went completely unnoticed by anyone.

"…fucking finally. I thought we would never get here."

"All systems functional. Cloaking…perfect. For Fate's sake, their satellites are outdated trash…no wonder they haven't even fully explored their system…"

"Forget about that now, Grotek. Now…is everything ready?"

"…yes, it is. Let's do this, Ubom."

"Well, you heard him, everyone…release X-K0941. Coordinates, Waryum's last general location."

In the void of space, the eternal 'silence' was broken by a loud 'shockwave' when a techno-organic capsule the size of a truck shot from the ship, quickly turning 'invisible' as it headed towards Earth.

Within the now silent spaceship's lab, one of the several Tryum technicians muttered a hopeless prayer for the inferior species inhabiting the blue planet…

* * *

Seki Tomokazu was living the dream, camping alone in a forest far away from civilization to greet the New Year.

And why wouldn't he? He had a good job, no family to worry about, and he was Kibaou, one of the best players of Sword Art Online (Or so he told himself) inside the virtual world! Truly, spending the night alone watching the stars as he drank and ate some pre-cooked meal he had bought earlier was great. Not pathetic or sad at all, no matter what his co-workers said!

In fact, the only thing that could make this even more perfect was if his damn phone still had a signal to see what news the year was starting with or if there was some conveniently opportune star shower…

"…woah, what are the odds!" commented the slightly drunk man upon seeing a shooting star. "Okay then, let's see, what could I wish fo…eh? HOLY…!"

Screaming in fright, the man all but dove inside his tent seconds before a thunderous crash made the entire area shake, sending him rolling several meters away.

After a few seconds, Tomokazu shakily stood up, now completely sober from the shock and scare, before, slowly, walking to the edge of the crater that the meteor had created.

This…this was huge, right?! Of course it was; he had just found a freaking meteor! People could get rich and famous from that, right?! Screw his job! He was going to truly live the life from now on! Man, was he glad he chose to come out there toni…!

All the excited thoughts running through the mind of the man named 'Kibaou' within the virtual world were interrupted when a strange and inhuman sound emerged from the 'meteor', making him blink in time to see a bright and unnatural red light shot out from within the cloud of 'steam' it had been releasing, seemingly looking for something…

And it brutally stopped upon passing over him, the strange sound of before repeating itself, but this time it almost sounded like some kind of 'Warning' alarm for the man's ears.

That was when _something_ brutally pierced through the top of the meteor, long, sharp and deadly fast, brutally silencing the alarms blaring the warning about an unauthorized living organism detected in the area during the scan for a Camouflage DNA Sample.

Blinking, Tomokazu was barely able to see the 'thing' was of a disturbing black and seemed to be filled with 'spots' that looked everywhere before it retreated back within the 'meteor'. Of course, that's when he realized the thing was no space rock, but that it actually looked like some sort of capsule with a monstrously organic look, as if straight out of some horror sci-fi film…

The sound of flesh shifting and being brutally 'squeezed' followed, squelching noises that made him sick filling the air while the growl of some unknown beast rumbled. The man had just decided it was better to run like hell when the egg-like 'capsule' opened and revealed a pulsating darkness within.

Except that it wasn't darkness, the SAO Player quickly realized, but more like a sea of pulsating black flesh trying to squeeze itself together, before seemingly giving up and 'vomiting' something, which rolled through the ground several times before starting to take a more definite shape.

Slowly, like something straight out of a twisted nightmare, the vaguely humanoid form stood, eyes and mouths everywhere on its black body, which looked made out of raw black muscle…and then its eyes zeroed on the man everyone called Kibaou within SAO.

He didn't even have time to scream before a black tentacle shot out from the abomination's mouth pierced through his chest and 'dragged' him towards it. Finally, Tomokazu could scream in unholy horror as he felt the thing start to consume his body…

And then silence reigned once again except for the inhuman sound of flesh being chewed in ways it shouldn't, the creature's body shifting and shaking, as if it was trying to assimilate something.

Looking at it all through the bio-cameras on the capsule, High Researches Grotek and Ubom, like every other Tryum in the lab, deadpanned with clear awkwardness.

"Well…that happened."

"Why the hell was a human out there?! It's literally the middle of nowhere, that's why we chose it as her landing place! Of all the damn strokes of bad luck…"

"Sho-should we abort the mission and retrieve the specimen, High Researchers?" asked a nervous-looking technician, one of the youngest ones, clearly unnerved upon seeing what X-K0941 had done. "I-it wasn't supposed to absorb the DNA of any intelligent species, it's against the Security Protocols, and it has been forced to shed like 80% of its Biomass when it couldn't shift properly, not to mention killed a civilian. We should…"

"Wait…what is it doing?" interrupted Ubom with utter fascination, making everyone's attention return to the screen.

Shaking and pulsating in an almost painful way, the creature fell to its 'knees', roaring and trashing around, its body starting to 'shrink' more than it had ever done before.

Skin, pale and weak, emerged from and quickly covered the black muscles as it rolled through the dirt, coughing and shouting as its eyes and mouths closed and receded within.

Then new eyes sprouted, followed by a nose and a mouth in the proper place, a head taking form as hair grew unevenly long from it, hands clawing into the dirt as fingers and nails took shape, feet quickly doing the same.

The roars started to become more and more like simple 'screams' when the features became more defined, 'softer' and completely at odds with the abomination's nature. The teeth warped into 'useless' round ones instead of the razor sharp it was used top, lips growing around the mouth as it took a smaller form, eyes blinking and gaining a human sclera and iris. Following cue, the until then asexual body seemed to shift, gaining a decent bust and hips, then a semblance to female sexual organs, until it looked more or less like that of a healthy human teenager.

That was when something else that looked 'abnormal' took place, color seemingly draining from the long hair and eyes until they became white and red respectively, the rest of the body apparently growing 'healthier' from it.

Releasing pained gasps, the new creature blinking, shakily standing up and looking at its…no, HER hands. The 'albino girl' looked at her body for a second before staring up at the sky.

Several moments passed before she started to laugh, so hard it seemed to strain her imitation for a human respiratory system to the extreme. Despite that, X-K0941 didn't stop, her laughter filling the air until she fell on her back, before she started whispering something.

Again and again…

"…wait…is she saying…'Future'? In…our language?" questioned the technician of earlier with clear fear.

"Hmm…the caretakers of the prison _did_ say she could 'talk' like a pet mimicking what it heard, but…it's certainly amazing to see it with our own eyes." commented Grotek while scratching his cheek. "…check if the Programmed Protocol is still working."

"Si-sir?! W-we can't seriously continue with…!"

"You have your orders, technician! Check it!"

"…ye-yes, High Researcher." mumbled the young Tryum before quickly typing something on his control panel and looking towards the screen. "X-K0941…stand up."

The 'girl' froze immediately as the order was fed straight into her DNA. Then, with almost animal grace, she shot to her feet, growling slightly as she looked towards the capsule.

No one was expecting her to frown and _nod_ , of all things, though.

"…well, she gained some semblance of human intelligence. That's ominous." mumbled the Tryum technician before sighing and looking up. "Orders?"

 **" _Mi_ ra**i…" rasped the alien experiment on the screen, surprising the Tryums once again as she started repeating it again and again. " **Mir** ai! **M** irai! MIRAI!"

"What…what the hell is she saying now?" questioned Ubom with clear confusion, even as several technicians looked through their own screens.

"It's not a word of our language…maybe her natural one? Does she even have one? Or is it…?"

"It's…it's not that, High Researcher." interrupted the now recurrent technician while staring up at Grotek with disturbed fascination. "It's…it's the word 'Future' in the _human_ language of this land. Japanese."

For a moment, silence reigned within the lab before the two aliens that, so long ago, had found two eggs protected by the dead body of their mother and experimented on them for fun stared at the frowning but eager 'human girl'.

"…fine then. She's still following the Programed Protocol _and_ looks easier to communicate with than ever, not to mention she will have an easier time blending in (At least theoretically). All is good." sentenced Ubom to the clear dismay of the technician. "Calm down, young…Pibap, was it? We have complete control. And while the loss of that random human is something regrettable, we're trying to prevent their potential extinction. It's within acceptable losses."

"…as you say, High Researcher." accepted Pibap with clear resignation.

"Okay then. Let's get to work." loudly declared Grotek before two pieces of the 'capsule' down on Earth separated and shifted, becoming a pair of insect-looking bio-machines that started flying around X-K0941, clear the cameras for monitoring her, the girl's gaze shifting to them. "Well them, little 'Mirai'…it's time to go find your brother."

For her part, X-K0941…no, _Mirai_ (She liked the sound of that. Future. Yes. Because the future was hers… _theirs_ ) growled again, sifting through the remains of the half-destroyed brain she had eaten, her nature so different from her other half's that she was unable to get anything but basic instincts and fragments of information.

It would have to be enough. The time had finally come. Her most important thing in the whole Universe was finally within her reach.

Let the many-eyed fools think they had control for now…all of it wouldn't matter once she found her brother.

"Carrying order! X-K0941, locate, restrain and recover X-K0940!" declared Pibap while injecting the order through the Programmed Protocol. "Preservation of native life is to recommended…but can be disregarded if it interferes directly with the mission."

For the first time since she had awareness, the alien abomination smiled gleefully upon feeling the order coursing through her DNA.

After all, there was nothing she wanted to do more in the entire Universe.

With a disturbingly eager laugh, the girl started running, the dirt sinking and cracking in her wake, her weight clearly superior to what she looked and reflecting on every step she took, even as she tore through trees or swatted them away while picking up speed.

Both Bio-drones easily followed her. She did not mind in the slightest.

"Brother…" moaned the 'girl' in that inhumanly warped Japanese, though it seemed as if every word she uttered became more and more 'human'. "Wait, brother. I'm coming…Mirai is coming for you…"

Under the night sky, Earth greeted a new year, even as utter calamity approached, unstoppable…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Dum, dam, dom! It finally happened!

With this, we have officially finished the second-to-last arc of this story, a quite dramatic point for its return if I say so myself, and started what I like to call the "Unholy Siblings" arc. 'Mirai' is here, and she won't be stopped by anything until she finds her brother. And after that, well…things aren't going to pretty.

Also, a few seconds of silence for Kibaou. Even in the Universes where he doesn't get to become an asshole, he still has no luck.

That said, though, hope you enjoyed one last dive in the most 'normal' aspects of Lusus!Kirito's life, reminding us once again of how warped his mind and common sense are XP Things are about to go very crazy in his life, so you had best remember those and enjoy them, as it may be a while before he's that relaxed again…

But well, let's leave the ominous talk for the upcoming chapters! For now, though, enjoy today's Omake! Heh, been some time since I wrote one of these too…

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 7: True 'Monster'**

The day had started seemingly as any other did in Youkai Academy for Kazuto: Wake up, meet up with Moka and the rest in the way from the dorms to school, let the former drink his blood and then allow Kurumu to greet him with an overly enthusiastic hug, followed by Yukari hanging from his back and happily telling him about the magic she had been practicing.

Then, all of them would head to the school building together and meet up after classes to finish up their work at the Newspaper Club. Or, in today's case, get a 'stand' set before the school's entrance and start handing out their latest newspaper issue (Popular as always, even if everyone seemed more desperate just to see the girls than to actually getting the newspaper, though they would all end up reading and enjoying it anyway). While Gin-sempai stood to the side doing nothing for 'perfectly good Sempai reasons', as he said, which didn't seem to sit too well with Yukari.

Just as he had started scolding werewolf for being mean to the little witch about her chest-size, though… _they_ came.

A group of dangerous-looking students in black suits, led by a tall boy with long blond hair, yellow eyes, and pointy ears.

Confused, the black-haired boy blinked, feeling the entire atmosphere changing in an instant, tension, worry and fear filling all the students that had been loitering around, the multitude opening in the wake of the strange group, even as his friends were filled with confusion and a hint of worry themselves.

Except for Gin, whose face became stony and filled with sharp dread.

"Greetings! I'm Kuyou, manager of the Public Safety Commission!" smiled the clear leader of the newcomers with an unusually cold smile. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Wait…you're supposed to be the ones that keep the 'peace' at the academy, right?" asked Moka with clear nervousness, wondering why she felt so on edge and a pulsing warning coming from her rosary. "What can we do for…? Eh? Gin-sempai?"

The last confused declaration came from the fact that the werewolf had moved with speed that almost seemed more characteristic of hi real form than his human one, interposing himself between Kuyou and the rest of the Newspaper Club with an extremely tense look in his face, arms opened wide as if to act as a shield for them.

Completely ignoring him, the blond teenager grabbed one of the newspapers in the small stand they had put together with a borrowed table from their clubroom, checking through the cover and some of the pages inside.

Highlights of it were the most recent public incident the odd group of friends had dealt with, the whole problem with the crazy art teacher turning students into statues.

"Huh…not bad, Newspaper Club. Gotta say, your job isn't half bad…" commented Kuyou before looking up towards them. "However…who gave you permission to hand out a newspaper with these contents? We don't recall…!"

"No one? We're the Newspaper Club, you yourself just said it." interrupted Kazuto with a raised eyebrow, making all the students present to look at him in horror even as Gin looked at him shock, all members of Public Safety Commission gaping his way as if he had dared to do something unforgivable. "And Freedom of the Press says we can publish whatever we want. Though, of course, we stick to the facts!"

"Oh yeah? And who are you to seemingly know so much about such matters, boy?" snarled the blond with narrowed eyes.

"Well, my mom works for a magazine, so I know what I'm talking about. Also, Nekonome-sensei is the advisor of our club and we haven't done anything that goes against her rules, so we're really not doing anything bad right now." pointed out the inhuman boy while scratching his head, ignoring Gin's furious gestures for him to shut up.

"I see…well, let me tell you how wrong you are, boy!" shouted Kuyou before, unceremoniously, raising his leg over the table in a furious gesture, shocking all members of the club. "Because you're disturbing the peace and order of this aca…!"

Once again, the blond teen was interrupted, though more brutally this time, when 'something' long and as fast as a bullet 'slapped' his leg away, making him fall flat on his ass.

Absolute silence filled the academy grounds while the leader of the PSC blinked up at the sky in shock, the three girls of the Newspaper Club looking at Kazuto in awe while Gin paled considerably.

"That table is borrowed, so please, don't do that." commented the inhuman boy with an unusually harsh tone. "Also, you would have ruined our newspapers."

"Scum! You dare attack Kuyou-sa…?!" started to scream the purple-haired girl that had been standing beside Kuyou, only for him to silence him with a gesture as he stood up, glaring murder at the 'younger' boy.

"In case you didn't notice, piece of trash…THAT WAS THE IDEA!" roared the blond while his fist shot forward, aiming straight for the biggest pile of newspapers still in the table.

This time, there was no hint of pretense as a black tendril coiled around his arm before he got even close, countless gazes staring in shock while Kuyou found himself staring at the weirdly unnerving visage of several black-red and slitted eyes _glaring_ at him.

"Then I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Kuyou-sempai." declared Kazuto while lamenting the new hole his school uniform now had from where the dark tentacle grew from his back. "You have no right to destroy our newspapers or stopping us from realizing our club activities."

"You tell him, Kazuto-san!" cheered Yukari with a bright smile before pointing towards the livid forms of the Public Safety Commission. "Besides, what kind of half-assed job are you guys doing? I have never seen you do anything at all to 'keep the peace' since this year started!"

"Yeah, she's right! Kazuto here has dealt with more crazy problems than any of you!" added Kurumu while stomping on the ground.

"Guys, stop! Kazuto, let him go!" quickly shouted Gin with clear concern. "We can't…we don't want any problems, okay? We will get rid of the Newspapers if you forgive…?"

"Get rid of them…? Did I just really hear you say that, Gin-sempai?" somehow, everyone suddenly felt a disturbing 'wrongness' wash over them while Kazuto's surprisingly cold gaze turned towards the werewolf. "Have you forgotten to which extremes Kurumu went to the other day to protect our newspapers?!"

"Ka-Kazuto…" mumbled the Succubus with a clear blush even as Moka felt a weird mix of jealousy and pride at her closest friend's (And obvious crush) words.

"These newspapers are more than just that…they're the fruit of all our effort and passion! Of all the hard work we put together while having fun and being determined! My mom would be disappointed in me if I let all of that go to waste because of the threats from a bunch of cliché corrupt school bullies!" shouted the inhuman boy with clear passion, the random students around staring in awe at the exchange. "And besides…you have been on edge since they showed up, Gin-sempai. Scared and 'defeated'. You may be a pervert, but you're not a bad person, so whatever they did to you that left you feeling like that just reinforces what I think about them."

"Kazuto…you…" started the flabbergasted werewolf before Kuyou's laughter interrupted him.

"Those are some brave words, boy! But do you really think you can oppose the strongest youkai in this academy and all the Safety Commission?" asked the blond teen with a smirk.

"…eh? What are you talking about? The strongest youkai in here is clearly the Principal! Whenever I walk past the administration building it makes all my instincts go crazy…really wonder what kind of monster he is…" commented Kazuto to everyone's surprise, even as the leader of the PSC seemed clearly put off by the answer. "Compared to him, you're, like, a speck of dust before a mountain."

"…are you insulting me, you no-name bastard?" growled Kuyou while wisps of fire seemed to flicker in the air around him, making Gin growl and the girls to tense, even if it looked as if he was still unable to free his arm from the alien experiment's tentacle. "I remember being told about you now…you're that strange monster who calls his species something no one has ever heard before. Surely, an attempt from a lowly 'Monstrel' to deny what they truly are for…"

"I don't know what a Monstrel is, but I guess is no wonder no one has heard of what I am before. After all, as far as I know, I'm the last of my species." interrupted the inhuman boy with a sad smile, making his friends look at him with utter shock, many of the random students around gasping. "Though if you ever see another 'Lusus Naturae', feel free to tell me."

"Kazuto…I had no idea…" mumbled Moka with utter shock.

"N-no wonder I had never heard of that species…oh, Kazuto-san…" sniffed Yukari while resisting the urge of rushing to hug one of the objects of her affection.

"Kazuto!" cried Kurumu while not resisting the aforementioned urge at all, burying her face on the boy's back just under his growing tendril and hugging him, not caring at all for his current situation. "You poor thing…why didn't you tell us…?"

"Because it doesn't matter, Kurumu-chan. After all, I have my family, my friends at home…and all of you now!" happily declared Kazuto while giving them all a radiant smile, which made the girls blush and Gin to feel weirdly humbled at someone he knew for so little time thinking so highly of him. "As far as I know, having been raised by my human family and then coming here are everything I could have asked for."

"So…the rumor of you having been raised by humans is true." chuckled Kuyou with dark amusement, though anyone could easily tell he was pissed from being ignored for so long. "Well then, I guess it falls on me to show you how Monster Society works compared to that of those pathetic scums of…!"

Sadly for the leader of the Safety Commission, he was interrupted one last time that day, the cool effect of setting his arm of fire being completely killed when the tendril immobilizing him suddenly flung his body through the air with a monstrous strength, sending him flying into the sky and over the academy's building as if he was a missile.

Everyone blinked, random students and members of the PSC looking open-mouthed in the direction the blond teen had flown. Meanwhile, the Newspaper Club was staring wide-eyed towards their shocked and slightly panicked youngest male member.

"O-oh damn! I…I didn't expect him to get sent that far, bu-but he caught me off-guard with that fire-trick and I panicked, I swear! A-also, I thought he would be stronger than that, I barely put any strength at all to throw him that far…" swore Kazuto while looking down in worry. "Gosh…I hope he didn't land in the ocean, that would make me feel like the most horrible person ever…

"You…you bastard!" snarled the purple-haired girl from the Safety Commission, called Keito, while her abdomen suffered a slightly disturbing transformation and let 6 spider-like legs emerge from it, in a way that seemed about to make her breasts pop out of her black uniform, for some reason. "Take them down in the name of Kuyou-sa…!"

And that was as far as she went before several book-sized rocks fell on her head, making her fall down. Blinking, the Newspaper Club looked at their youngest member, who had raised her magic wand and looked back at them in confusion.

"What? I can use more than just buckets and pans for my spells, you know? Also, she was totally asking for it!"

"…Inner Moka, we need you!" declared Kazuto while his tendril shot and snapped the rosary off the surprised Moka's chest, Kurumu deploying her wings, claws, and tail just as the rest of the PSC screamed towards them.

Gin, unsure if it was because of having seen Kuyou being thrown away so easily or just the boy's earlier words, changed into his werewolf form and shot forward just as the more mature-looking and silver-haired Super Vampire replaced her more innocent self.

"You bastards…know your place!" shouted Inner Moka while catapulting herself forward, just as their resident Lusus Naturae grew several more tentacles and Yukari backed away while summoning more rocks.

Less than 30 seconds later…all the random students watched in shock at the defeated forms of the Public Safety Commission, the Newspaper Club standing over them basically unharmed, all of them reverting to their human forms sans Moka (And Yukari, for obvious reasons) while Kazuto dropped the last one to the ground.

"…we won!" declared Yukari happily, before casually dropping a bucket on the head of one of the ones who seemed about to try and stand again.

"I…can't believe it. That was…fucking easy." declared Gin with clear disbelief, staring from the defeated students towards Kazuto with a mix of shock and disbelieving happiness. "Just what the fuck are you, Kazuto?"

"I think I have already said that enough times, Gin-sempai…also, did anyone see where the spider girl went?" asked the alien experiment before his eyes widened as he looked towards the forest near them, apparently seeing something they couldn't. "Oh…okay, so that's her dealt with. Well, I think we can get back to handing out the newspa…!"

A monstrous howl interrupted his words, their club's president paling while the students around them started to scream and point upwards.

The form of a horse-sized fox with four burning tails descended from the heavens, roaring angrily at the frozen group while a familiar male of blond hair whipped the air around his head.

"You…pieces of trash!" snarled Kuyou with anger and hatred in his voice, his eyes roaming from his defeated underlings to the 5 students that had humiliated and, apparently, crushed his group like it was nothing. "You will all pay for this with your lives!"

"A Yoko?!" exclaimed Inner Moka with clear surprise. "An S-Class monster with a fearsome mastery over fire…so he wasn't completely bluffing about his strength! He even has four tails!"

"…he would be cooler if he had nine tails." pointed out Kazuto as if it was a very obvious thing, his friends gaping while the Super Vampire looked at him with annoyance.

"Maybe…but with this…" started to say the 4-tailed fox as his shape changed, turning more humanoid and exuding so much power it made most students around them fall to their knees, everyone staring at the new being in shock. "It will be more than enough to end you, scum."

"N-no way…" mumbled the inhuman boy with shock while staring at the now white-blue form of Kuyou, fiery fox ears growing from the top of his head while his now naked and toned body (Though apparently lacking any obvious sexual organs in that form, for some reason) floated off the ground. "Is that…what I think it is…?"

"It's the Yoko's feared Battle Form!" screamed Gin while taking a step back, a hint of actual terror in his eyes as he got ready to transform. "Run! Not even Moka's power as a Super Vampire can directly fight against that!"

"I can't…move…" stammered Yukari with clear fear.

"S-so powerful…" groaned Kurumu while trying to transform, ready to grab at least a couple of her friends and fly out of there.

"Yes…this is the difference between us!" declared Kuyou with a malevolent laugh. "What do you think now, Lusus Naturae?!"

"…he has an actual Super Form! That's so awesome!" declared Kazuto with stars in his eyes, making the Yoko freeze dead in his tracks and deadpan at him, even as his friends looked at him as if he was mad. "…but again, with just 4 tails instead of 9 it just really doesn't give the same kind of awesome vi…"

A roaring inferno consumed the world, silencing everyone as the blue flames consumed the Newspaper Club and kept going until they almost touched the forest.

Snorting, the leader of the Public Safety Commission lowered his arm, thinking that perhaps he put too much power in his Fox Fire. Amused, he looked around, seeing fear and despair filling the eyes of all students around him.

"Let this be a warning for all of you: Our word is law in this academy." declared the 4-tailed fox while raising one of his clawed hands. "And _this_ is the Fate that awaits anyone who opposes the absolute…!"

This time, it couldn't really be called an interruption, because it was Kuyou himself who fell silent, his face twisting in utter shock. Soon, all the random students noticed the cause of it, their own eyes widening.

Amidst the slightly burning and badly scorched land through which the deadly Fox Fire had passed…'something' stood, smoke softly rising from the strange and massive 'ball of black' that was…shaking. No…quivering.

As if it was _breathing_.

Like it had been waiting for those thoughts to cross their minds, a myriad of massive eyes opened through the entire thing.

All of them red slits with golden sclera, filled with black veins.

Then, mouths filled with razor sharp teeth opened under the eyes, snarling with animal anger.

Slowly, the abomination _uncoiled_ itself, the way in which he had done so being, unknown to him, the last instinct he had left from the alien creature it had originally been. That same instinct which had prompted his biological mother to save his life (And that of his unknown sibling) being what had saved his dumbfounded High School friends.

Standing up as its full form released the unharmed Newspaper Club, the abomination set his massive upper limbs on the ground at their sides, as if daring anything to get close to them. From his 'back', countless tendrils whipped the air angrily, like a living sea of nightmare, even as the tip of his tail slammed against the ground.

That's when his main mouth, the one in what passed as his 'head', opened, revealing a maw filled to its depths with teeth longer than an adult's arms.

Even as Yukari, Kurumu, Gin and Inner Moka looked up at him in frozen horror and awe, the Lusus Naturae finally _spoke_.

And for the first time, an uncharacteristic rage was filling his voice.

 **"You shouldn't have done that, Kuyou-sempai…"**

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** You done goofed, fox boy :P

Well, for more than obvious reasons, this went quite differently to how it did in the manga. Next time, Kuyou realizes how screwed he is…

Until then, this is Saint, signing off!


	13. Chapter 11: The True Freak

Hey people! Saint again with another chapter of the weirdest SAO story around (Probably)!

Well, gotta say I'm glad to see the return of this fic was so openly welcome, and that I'm not having as much trouble retaking it as I thought I would, if anything is the opposite, I'm getting quite fired up with it all! Thank you all readers as always for your support, truly, I wouldn't be here at all without you :3

Now then, though, we're getting to the 'breaking point' of this story. Enjoy some more nice and relaxed times, because shit is about to get real…

Also, help with this one's TvTropes page is needed, it's not been Updated in quite a long time, and my Troper-abilities are as shitty as always XP

With that said, enjoy the chapter people!

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: The True Freak**

 **January 6th, 2024. Hanno, Saitama. At the edge of the countryside, 10:30…**

If you asked to the Universe as a whole, most (Or at least to the few that knew about them) would tell you many good things about the Tryums. How they were extremely advanced, non-invasive and, overall, not a bad species to have as the (Supposedly) most developed and powerful in the cosmos.

Of course, there was also the little fact that, when their arguably insane disregard for the natural order drove them, they were so disconnected from what most intelligence races considered 'normal' that it made them, more often than not, made very stupid mistakes.

The current case was probably a good example, even as a very annoyed-looking Mirai hid within the darkness of a small store's backroom, quite a commotion sounding outside as the alien experiment/hunting creature tried to rein in her instincts of simply start killing everyone.

"…okay, in hindsight, we should probably have recalled the obvious detail that most humans, in fact, find weird to see a young girl going around naked." commented Grotek while the technicians did their best to keep track of what was happening as best as they could while the bio-drones 'hid' from human perception. "We had almost one of their human weeks to let her familiarize with the terrain, once it was clear her search would take her into inhabited areas, and see that she could passably pretend to be a human, after all."

"Well, we have never had to do a cover operation within any planet with an intelligent species, much using such a dangerous specimen." waved it off Ubom as if it was no big deal, which, in their eyes, it technically wasn't. "Anyway, any chance we can get X-K0491 out of there anytime soon?"

"Without letting her start literally rush her way out of there by doing clearly non-human things? No." answered Pibap the technician while looking from their drone's external shots to the one keeping an eye on the non-human. "…hey, wait. That building she's in…"

"Yes, Pibap?"

"…isn't it some sort of clothing store?"

Several seconds of silence ensued.

Ten minutes later, a clearly uncomfortable-looking white-haired girl walked through the streets of Hanno, tugging at the hem of her red kimono with floral patterns several times, alternating from glaring at it to examine it curiously. Also, the wooden sandals she wore made awkward sounds with every step she took, as if they were straining under an unusual weight.

Underneath, she wore nothing, but that didn't seem to be a concern for the Tryums that celebrating their 'success' back in their ship.

"Good thinking, Pibap! Remind me to recommend you for a promotion when we get back to Tryum-Delta."

"I-it's not a problem, High Researcher…I don't think that kind of clothes is the norm around the area, though."

"Eh, who cares? All clothing is the same. I swear, these humans, having the need to wear such things because of how vulnerable their bodies are, are seriously baffling…"

Completely ignoring the banter going on through the Communication Link she had with the Tryum ship, Mirai simply grunted, deciding to not bother with those strange 'clothes' she was wearing (Kimono, someone had called it…who cared, anyway?). It was already bad enough she had to go so slow to not draw any attention to herself, something that, had she not been under the direct monitoring of the many-eyed bastards, she would have completely ignored, bowling and crushing all the hairless apes around her so that she could get to her brother.

Biting down a snarl and suppressing the impulse to fight against the programming in her DNA to do so, the white-haired girl walked into an alley, rushing slightly faster than any girl her apparent built should be able to, thinking of maybe getting atop the surrounding structures to bypass the streets…

"…hey, watch o…AH!"

…only for her to bump into an apparently distracted human male, pushing the young man aside with excessive force and causing him to fall down with a small shout, the papers he had been carrying spilling around.

All the Tryums monitoring the arguably most dangerous experiment their race had ever deployed (At least direct destruction-wise) froze as Mirai's red eyes slowly moved towards the groaning male with gray-brown hair, like that of decaying leaves, his light-brown eyes opening to look at her.

"Gods, that hurt…yo-you're one strong girl, aren't you?"

The white-haired girl's eyes narrowed, the lower part of her kimono's back shaking as her flesh seemed to ripple in preparation to…

"Hey, Nochizawa! There you are!" called a voice from one end of the alley, several older men wearing the same uniform as the young man standing there. "Keep moving or we will be late!"

"A-ah, yes, sorry!" apologized the brown-haired male while standing up, quickly bowing towards the silent alien experiment. "Excuse me, sorry for the trouble! Later!"

With that, the human that had been called Nochizawa rushed away, unknowing of how close he had been to a very messy death. Waiting until the student and his apparent superiors vanished from view, Mirai grunted before _jumping_ , easily cracking a building's wall as she ricocheted off its side, then the opposite one, and finally landing in a rooftop, cracking it as she did so.

Also, her sandals were in pieces too, but she barely cared about that all. After all, there was only one thing that consumed her entire mind in that moment.

"Brother…"

Once again ignoring everything around her, the inhuman creature let her senses expand in a way none of her slavers knew she could, connecting with her other half.

He didn't answer, like she frustratingly had been hoping for…but, much to her shock, she felt him.

Her brother was close.

A manic grin appearing on her face, the white-haired girl spun in the air and, much to the Tryum's confusion, started rushing in the opposite direction she had been so far.

 _Close. So close…_

* * *

 _"Never afraid of what the future holds, never regretful of the present. That's who we are! Team Dai-Gurren!"_ – Simon the Digger (Inspirational badassery incarnate).

* * *

"Man, that was fun! Thanks for letting me come to hear one of Tetsuhiro-ojiisan's lectures, Yuuna! It was a great experience."

"Heh, dad will have a stroke if he hears you call him that, but no problem, Kazuto. If anything, I was surprised when you suddenly asked this…"

To say that Shigemura Yuuna had been when the bizarre boy had asked her if he could go to one of her father's lectures in the Touto Institute of Technology, a few days back during his birthday, was an understatement. Everyone present in the party had been beyond baffled, really, but the idol-wannabe couldn't resist the idea of spending a few hours alone with him, even if most of those would be hearing her father talk about his work.

That's why she had arranged immediately with her father for the 'visit' to take place. Shigemura Tetsuhiro had certainly been surprised but had still happily arranged for it, as his daughter rarely went to visit his workplace (Even if it had been driven by someone else).

Also, Yuuna was pretty sure, her dad definitively wanted to 'gauge' Kazuto's interest personally. He could think he had her fooled, but she was very aware he was always trying to make up for being so busy by keeping a close eye on her best friend through indirect means.

Of course, the fact that he clearly didn't know of his 'little' secret was a clear indication he hadn't yet crossed the line between concerned father and borderline creepy, thank the Gods. Sure, the girl loved her father and was extremely understanding of him, giving priority to her education over her dreams about becoming an idol for his sake, but there was just so much she could take before it went too far. Putting that aside, though…

"…and what he said about the way in which VRs concepts could expand to many more fields was…!"

"Kazuto, why did you suddenly want to hear one of my dad's lectures?" asked the idol-wannabe with honest curiosity, making the black-haired boy blink in surprise. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed spending time with you here today, but it kind of felt a bit…out of the blue."

"Ah…well, you remember how I told everyone that I wanted to get a job with Akihiko-san in Argus after graduating?" asked the alien experiment while awkwardly scratching his head, making Yuuna groan and nod.

After all, it wasn't exactly forgettable when your closest friend/crush/maybe-more announced to everyone he was after an extremely ambitious position despite being just in his first year of high school. Even less when the main motivation behind it was so that one of your other friends' mother saw him as a man 'worthy' of marrying her daughter.

It hadn't really helped when he had said he would do the same for her or Suguha if the situations were similar without hesitation. No matter how happy and tingly inside it had made her felt, no sir.

"Okay…on hindsight, that more than explains all of this…"

"Yeah, I remembered you mentioned last year he had started giving out lectures about Akihiko-san's work since it was becoming so widely spread and popular as time passed, so I thought attending something from the man who literally taught him most of what he knows would help me with such things." happily declared Kazuto before taking her hand within his, making the older girl freeze and blush. "After all, I want to make sure I can make the best future I can provide to you and the others!"

Don't react. Keep in mind the nonsensical part of what he's saying. Don't let those bright and hopeful eyes fool you. Don't let…!

"Kazuto…you dummy." mumbled Yuuna with rosy cheeks as she leaned towards him, the black-haired boy almost subconsciously doing the same. "You don't need to go that far for us…"

"But I want to." sincerely replied the alien experiment with determined eyes, leaning closer.

Feeling her heart soaring at those words, no longer caring about the other implications, the brown-haired girl leaned forward and closed her eyes, feeling her lips tingling in anticipation…

"Yu-Yuuna?!"

…only for the sudden and vaguely familiar voice to completely kill the mood. Annoyed like she hadn't been in months, the idol-wannabe turned around to shout at the interloper to get lost, only to stare in surprise at the wide-eyed and slightly pale face of a boy slightly older than face.

"…Eiji-kun? Gods, it's been ages since we last saw each other!" excitedly greeted Yuuna upon catching sight of her childhood friend. "I can't believe it, you actually asked for an internship here? Congratulations! But seriously, you could have told me! You barely reply to my emails lately!"

"A-ah, ye-yes, I have just been…quite busy." mumbled Nochizawa Eiji while looking from the girl to the younger boy standing at her side.

Blinking, the idol-wannabe turned to the side, noticing how Kazuto was now staring at the older boy as if it was the most curious thing ever.

"O-oh yeah, how silly of me! Kazuto, this is Eiji-kun, my childhood friend…I mentioned him a few times, remember?" getting a vague nod from the alien experiment, the clearly relieved Yuuna turned towards her apparently still dumbfounded friend. "Eiji-kun, this is Kazuto! He's…my singing rival and a good friend too. I met him when dad took me to meet Kayaba-jii…Kayaba Akihiko, that is, shortly before we got into high school!"

"I…I remember you vaguely mentioning that, yeah…" muttered Eiji while trying to keep a smile on his face.

It wasn't easy, after all, when it had been precisely that 'small' fact what had cut most of the contact between him and the lovely girl before him, who he had a crush on since they were kids. She going to an All-Females Private High School had ended that, though, and while they still kind of kept contact, the ever-nervous boy noticed they had been drifting apart more and more as time passed.

Nowadays, he barely even saw her in the neighborhood at all, and when he did it was always when he was heading to school or something similar, never having time to chat with her. Not to mention that their communication, while still warm from the vibrant songstress, had been getting noticeably 'colder' with the passing of time, stupidly because of him too, as he didn't have the same easiness just messaging her than when they talked, as ironic as it sounded for someone that had spent his whole childhood unable to confess his feelings. The fact that he hadn't known about this…'Kazuto', who she apparently had known for years now, was a clear proof of that.

Doing his best for offering a smile towards the clearly younger boy that had been about to share a kiss with HIS childhood crush, Eiji opened his mouth to say something he hoped sounded nice…when he found himself with the strange boy standing an inch from him, **staring** fixedly at him.

The older boy didn't even have time to squeak in shock before Kazuto grabbed his arm with surprising strength and _sniffed_ it, his eyebrows furrowing as he did so.

"Hmmm…?"

"GAH?!"

"Ka-Kazuto?! What the hell are you….?!"

"Have we met?" asked the alien experiment with sharp bluntness, making Eiji freeze at the strange depth of his eyes…and wonder why it felt vaguely 'familiar'.

"No-not that I know…?"

"That's…weird. It's very faint, but…you smell very familiar, for some reason…"

"S-smell familiar?!" all but screamed the older boy, wondering why he felt terribly embarrassed and slightly violated all of a sudden.

"Hahahahah, man, what a joker you are, Kazuto!" quickly shouted Yuuna with a very-obviously-forced tone, grabbing the surprised boy by the back of his shirt and dragging him away at surprising speed. "A-anyway, nice to see you, Eiji-kun! Let's talk sometime soon again!"

"…eh? Wa-wait, Yuuna!" started to say Eiji once the shock wore off, only to realize that the other two had completely vanished from his sight. "…goddammit, I'm an idiot."

Cursing like that, the older boy walked away, wondering why he was unable to remove Yuuna's new 'friend's eyes from his mind…

Two hallways away, within what was clearly a closet for cleaning supplies, Shigemura Yuuna growled and shook a clearly confused alien experiment from side to side.

"What the hell, Kazuto?! What was that about?!"

"A-ah, sorry, Yuuna! I didn't mean to scare your childhood friend, it's just that…he really did smell familiar, for some reason…" apologized the black-haired boy with a contrite tone.

"Kazuto…I'm not mad about that. Hell, you probably weirded him out more than scared him. But that was NOT normal at all; it could have gotten you in trouble!" scolded the brown-haired girl before sighing softly. "As for the 'familiar smell' you mention…couldn't it be that it was mi-mine? We did spend a lot of time together until the end of Middle School, after all…"

"Nah, no way." shot down Kazuto without any hesitation. "I could never mistake your scent for anything else in the world, Yuuna-chan; it's way too precious to me. This was something different…"

Yuuna definitively did not squeak happily at hearing the stupid declaration. She was an 18-years-old girl, practically a woman! She did not do such childish things.

She settled, however, for leaning against the blinking alien experiment, a happy smile on her face.

"Idiot…why do you always say things like that without thinking?"

"Uhm…because I love you, Yuuna?"

Unwilling to let him say another word, the young woman reached out and joined her lips with his, uncaring of how unappropriated the scene would seem if anyone stumbled upon the closet.

Surprised at first, Kazuto slowly returned the gesture, both of them enjoying the other's warmth.

Around an hour later, a white-haired figure clad in a kimono was staring at the same closet, unable to understand anything.

It was bad enough how much time she had wasted trying to get in that damn human building, way more protected than the average structures in the surroundings for reasons she didn't care about, but the current situation also made no sense.

Her brother's scent was everywhere in vague patches, noticeably stronger there, if still mixed with those of many other humans.

Why was everything still so 'normal', then? Why weren't the humans panicking or screaming about the 'monster' that had to have been there openly? Why was there no destruction that made it obvious he had passed through there?

Mirai was only vaguely aware of the Tryums arguing about that through the link they had directly with her (And that they never bothered to close, considering her little more than 'a trained animal'), ignoring their rants about 'Trying to find if Waryum was alive to ask for answers', opting by punching the closet's side in frustration, ignoring the damage she had done to the wall and walking away.

The monster disguised as a human had barely reached the end of the hallway when one of those metallic boxes the humans used to go up and down in the building (Elevator, she believed they called them?) opened before her, revealing a clearly stressed Nochizawa Eiji, clearly in a bad mood.

Both of them blinked in surprise, though. The older boy because he recognized the weird girl in the kimono from that morning. Her not so much, he was an inconsequential human, after all, just another insect that could be used as meager food if needed…except…

"Wait…you were in the alley this morning! Did you follow…?"

"Where?" interrupted Mirai with an almost manic glint in her eyes.

"What?" asked a confused Eiji, before screaming as he was thrown back inside the elevator, his back hitting the metallic wall painfully as the white-haired girl pinned him with her body.

It would have almost felt erotic if it wasn't for the painful grip she had on him…or the fact that the teeth in her mouth had sharpened like demented knives, the corners of it seeming about to split apart. Also, her red eyes were changing, becoming inhuman slits, the sclera golden and filled with black veins that pulsed like worms…

"Where is m **y brother?** " demanded Mirai as she smelled her other half's scent all over the boy's arm.

The elevator's door closed just as Eiji tried to scream.

When they opened again in another floor, empty, a shocked worked would go and report that someone had torn open the elevator ceiling's hatch…

* * *

 _"The world is not perfect, but it's there for us, to trying the best it can. That's what makes it so damn beautiful."_ – Roy Mustang (A true source of inspiration).

* * *

 **January 8th, 2024. Kanagawa, Hayama. Isshiki Beach Resort, 12:30…**

One of the many advantages that living in the current age and day had was that, even during Winter like now, things that the season's weather would normally have prevented could still be enjoyed.

One such thing was the ability to swim in big open spaces even when outside it was noticeably cold. The Isshiki Resort, situated within the Hayama-Isshiki Beach, was one of such places that allowed for this, even if it was quite fancy. Within, a lot of pools especially made to operate all year round despite the changes in the weather could be used by anyone who could afford it.

And it was sitting on the benches of such a place…that the gloomy-faced Kirigaya siblings declared a single thing.

"I don't want to be here…"

"Oh, c'mon Kazuto, Sugu, don't be like that!" scolded then Yuuna with a grin as she towered before the sitting pair, wearing a simple purple bikini. "Kayaba-jii was gracious enough to invite everyone here so it's only fair we all enjoy it!"

"Yeah, Yuuna-san is right! Plus, it's a perfect chance for you two to overcome your fear of water!" added an eager Asuna while standing at her side, wearing her own red and white striped bikini. "Don't you think that's worth it?"

"Bu-but…I don't want to." mumbled Kazuto while shaking and hugging his legs, a haunted look in his eyes. "Water is bad…it only wants to hurt us…"

"Yeah, Onii-chan is right! Why don't you leave us alone? Isn't it enough that we accepted to come?" complained Suguha while hugging her brother's back, which had the distracting effect of smashing her green bikini-clad breasts against it.

Asuna shook slightly while Yuuna's eyes visibly twitched, one of her hands idly moving towards her average chest before once again looking back at the girl 3 years younger than her.

This was karma because of when she taunted her about 'growing up' a couple years ago, wasn't it?

"Please you two, stop being such babies!" scolded Rika while walking on the scene with a surprisingly modest magenta one piece, but that still showed up her figure quite nicely. "Suguha, aren't you a National-level kendoka?! And you, Kazuto! Doesn't it shame you to be some super-alien creature and still be scared of water?!"

"…this and that had nothing to do with each other!" retorted both blushing and embarrassed siblings at the same time, looking away with pouts while the rest couldn't help but coo at the sight.

"Gals, let it go. It's obvious Kii-bou and Sugu aren't going to move from there without the proper motivation." chimed in Shiori while walking near the group, the auburn-haired girl clad in a modest black two-piece. "And have you all forgotten that the main reason we're here with the whole freaking resort reserved by Kayaba Akihiko himself is so that _those guys_ can have some fun?"

As she said those words, the virtual info broker pointed back towards the massive pool-beach behind them, where a certain group could be seen having fun…in their own ways.

"Man, man, man! I can't believe we're really in a place like this!" happily shouted Yuuki while splashing through the water like a child on a sugar high, stars practically visible in her eyes. "Don't you think so, Aiko-nee?!"

"Yes, Yuu, it's great…but please, try to calm down a little?" asked Aiko in what hoped was a convincing enough tone, clad in the same simple purple two-piece as her sister.

"Leave her be, Aiko-san. After all, besides enjoying herself, she needs to make sure she fully understands how her body performs in different settings." casually commented Shino while nothing down something on a waterproof Ipad she carried, wearing a black and blue sports one-piece.

"…Shino-san, are you taking notes on our 'alien-ness' even now?"

"It's very important, Aiko-san!" commented Keiko from where she stood beside the usually-bespectacled girl (As she had taken off her glasses for that moment), Pina at her side apparently constructing a sandcastle (Somehow) while she noted down things in her phone. "Having all kinds of documentation properly made about your abilities could one day save our lives!"

"I'm happy to see you completely get me, Keiko." proudly declared Shino while patting the twin-tailed girl's head, her giggles at the action combining with her cute and innocent-looking yellow two-piece to create an even more endearing picture. "You're truly the best assistant and friend I could have asked for."

"Thanks, Shino-sa…no, boss! I will always do my best to help you uncover the world's mysteries!"

"…is it weird that we're the alien-hybrids and I sometimes think we aren't the weirdest ones in this group?" idly commented Asami from where she and the rest of the Sleeping Knights were sitting on some beach benches.

"…just a little, Nori." answered An Si-eun with a resigned sigh, before smiling at how the twins played in the water. "But, I don't really think that's a problem at all."

"You can bet on that, Siune." chuckled Nobu while drinking a soda can in one go. "…ah. By the way, where is our fearless leade…?"

"Here I goooo…!" came an excited scream before Akane jumped almost 20 meters on the air (With her legs 'transformed'), doing a brutal cannonball that sent water all the way to where Shino and Keiko stood. "…oh boy, yeah! It has been ages since I last swan, let alone done anything like that!"

"Heh, that's the spirit Merida!" cheered Yuuki before diving after her best friend, ignoring Aiko's call about not having much experience swimming since she was 8-years-old. "Let's race!"

"Yeah! Today I will beat you, Yuuki!"

"Yuu, Merida, wa…! Ugh, those two…when I catch you, you're going to regret this!"

"…and there they go." mumbled Asuna with a small smile upon seeing the three friends rushing off through the water at speeds that would put any Olympic athletes to shame, albeit a bit clumsily because of how long it had been since they last did it. "They're really having fun, eh?"

"…I guess." conceded Suguha while looking away.

"O-okay…maybe water isn't that bad…" conceded Kazuto while looking at the 3 founders of the Sleeping Knights having fun in the water. "Bu-but…I still don't know how to swim…"

"No problem, I can teach!" happily declared every girl around him except Suguha, which caused them to blink and look at each other even as the younger Kirigaya pouted in annoyance before smiling sweetly.

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea! You can ALL teach _both of us_ how to swim!" declared the young kendoka before burying her adopted brother's arm in her chest and dragging him towards the water, albeit not very fast. "Le-let's go, Onii-chan! We will fa-face our fear to-together!"

"O-okay, Sugu!"

"…ugh, honestly, sometimes I think there is no winning against that girl." sighed Rika before following after the siblings. "Hey, you two, slow down! We don't want anyone drowning in our watch, you know?"

"Ah, honestly…sometimes it feels as hopeless as it's amusing to hang out with Kii-bou, don't you think?" rhetorically asked Shiori at the two older girls before happily following after the others, teasing them even before she got close to the 'shore'.

"…they're not bad girls. Quite fun and nice friends, really." casually commented Yuuna as she and Asuna watched the group moving further away. "…I wouldn't mind spending a lot of time with them."

"Yuuna, please, stop. It's just…guh…are we seriously considering doing this? Do you think we can really… _share_ Kazuto-kun?" questioned the chestnut-haired girl with a clear blush and a complicated expression.

"You know, under any kind of normal circumstances, I would have told you that it was nothing but stupid craziness too. But…Asuna, this boy is not only an alien monster, he's also honestly and willingly trying to become a man that your seemingly stuck-up mother would let you marry with just because he loves you that much." reminded the songstress with a small smile, which caused Asuna's blush to intensify as she looked down. "Such devotion would have made me back down under any normal circumstances…except that he said he feels the same for me and his adoptive sister, and I think he has convinced me of it."

"And…that makes you willing to try it?" asked the Yuuki Heiress in utter awe.

"No, it makes me want to actually make it a reality." confessed Yuuna before sighing. "Of course, I know how much of a mad quest it is…"

"Well, at least you don't have to deal with my mother." snorted the chestnut-haired girl with a frown. "If she ever caught wind of THAT, she would try and sent me to a private academy overseas or something…"

"Hey, at least your mother will be upfront with you about the things you hate. I can't even imagine what dad's reaction would be beside 'very bad' because he never tells me anything that could 'worry' me." complained the idol-wannabe with a clearly disapproving expression. "The day I went with Kazuto to his lecture I got back home quite happy only for my good mood to mostly evaporate when he was clearly distressed about something that happened at his job but refused to tell me anything!"

"Huh…ma-maybe he didn't want to burden you unnecessarily?" tried to cheer her up Asuna with a half-convinced tone.

"I'm not a little girl anymore, Asuna. My dad has always been going through a lot ever since we lost mom and I have tried my best to keep him cheerful…I just wish he would realize himself that I'm becoming an adult too." revealed Yuuna with a sad smile. "When I see him that worried and he doesn't tell me anything it makes me question if he will ever stop being afraid of sharing his burdens with me."

"…you may be surprised, but I would trade that kind of relationship for the one I currently have with my mother any day." smiled the Yuuki Heiress while putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I'm sure…I'm sure your father will realize what you want soon enough, Yuuna."

"…thanks, Asuna." grinned the older girl before putting an arm around her, surprising the chestnut-haired one. "And if you ever need help with your stuck-up mother, you can count on me!"

"…I will keep that in mind." chuckled Asuna before softly slapping her own cheeks and looking forward with determination. "Now let's get moving! Before any of them accidentally drowns or something else, preferably…"

"Oh, c'mon Asuna, relax! We're 10 meters from the 'shore', what danger can anyone be in?" laughed the songstress with clear amusement.

"Kirito! Hey, Kirito! Launch me over the water to see if I can skip like a rock!"

"Wha…?! Yuuki-san, tha-that sounds quite dangerous…"

"Yeah! Besides, Onii-chan and I are trying to…learn how to swim…"

"…it looks more like you're doing your best to hang from his back, but okay! Seriously, though, it's going to be quick! Plus, I'm more than durable enough to handle it, right?"

"I-I mean, yeah, I think so…okay, if you want to, give me a mo…"

"No need! You just use one of your tentacles, grab me tightly and throw me! Very fast!"

"Uh? You want me to use my tendrils?"

"Sure! I mean, that way you won't have to let go of Suguha and…they feel kind of nice…"

"…Onii-chan, step away from Yuuki-chan. slowly."

"E-eh?! Why?!"

"YUU! There you are! What the hell were you saying just now?!"

"A-ah, Aiko-nee! I-I just wanted to skip like a rock…"

"I can really do that with no problem…see?"

"YOU KEEP THAT TENTACLE AWAY FROM MY TWIN SISTER!"

"…you were saying?" deadpanned Asuna while staring at a resigned Suguha hanging from her adopted brother's back, said boy backpedaling in confusion while Yuuki hung tightly from his arm-turned-tendril and Aiko tried to tear her away from it by pulling from her legs.

"Yeah…okay, lesson learned, don't tempt Fate." groaned Yuuna before running forward. "Hey, you all! Stop that before someone gets seriously hurt!"

And like that, the crazy day under the regulated weather of the resort continued, with laughs and mayhem, humans and not-so-humans acting like one big and wacky family.

None of them knew it would be the beginning of the greatest changes in their lives…

* * *

 _"Man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be."_ – Carl Jung (I'm a Shadow, the True Self…).

* * *

Nochizawa Eiji wasn't the bravest person in the world. In fact, no one would really consider him particularly brave or determined.

If push came to shove, though, the young man liked to believe he would be able to rise up to whatever came his way, especially if it was for something he cared about. Probably slowly and not anything like a fantasy hero would, but still quite well.

However…after almost 2 days down there, in that dark and damp place, alone with _that thing_ in the darkness, few people would have blamed him from crying and feeling hopeless, sobbing and begging for mercy.

He was thirsty, hungry, tired and terrified all at the same time. Sure, the thing had tried feeding after, apparently, something had told her he would die if he didn't, but that had been basically having a minuscule amount of water shoved down his throat by one of those monstrous limbs and something that tasted suspiciously like raw meat. All it had done was causing him to throw up.

Wondering if this was how he was going to die, alone and in something that seemed straight of out of a dark horror movie…Eiji froze when he heard the familiar sounds of something skittering through the darkness again.

The monster had returned.

 **"Went to search…where you told me."** came the distorted voice from the abominations lurking in the shadows, just out of his sight. **"No trace of my brother's smell…and that Yuuna you mentioned wasn't there."**

What did it say about Eiji, that he had only needed a few hours of being threatened by the monster before he had all but cried what he thought it wanted to know? That its strange words made him think about the other 'weird' thing he saw that day and making a vague connection?

The thing disguising itself as a girl had a 'brother' it was looking for. He didn't have his scent the morning they met, yet he did when 'she' found him a second time.

There was only one 'strange' individual the young man had encountered during that time, one that had given him the same feeling that the 'girl' of white hair had caused when he stared at him.

'Kazuto'. Yuuna's new so-called friend.

The thought of his childhood friend and crush unknowingly being close to another monster like the abomination that had kidnapped him was so terrifying he had talked almost without realizing it. It had only been after he had finished that he had begged, almost pathetically, that the monster didn't hurt Yuuna.

Surprisingly, the thing had answered. That it only wanted 'her' brother. That it didn't care for humans like them.

Relief and fear had filled Eiji at hearing that, wondering what the abomination truly wanted in the end. After that, he had been left alone there…until that moment.

"H-he may not have gone to her house recently…o-or ever!" because Heavens knew he would at least have noticed if the bizarre 'boy' had come over to their neighborhood. "Ma-maybe he is…wherever Yuuna is now…?"

It was a very painful but possible thought. It had been an eternity since HE and the brown-haired girl went anywhere together, but with how close she seemed to that 'Kazuto', clearly not knowing his true monstrous nature…

 **"Then you're not useful anymore."** declared the voice without an ounce of pity, making the young man freeze as he saw many massive eyes opened in the darkness, slitted red with golden sclera and worm-like black veins. **"Die."**

"WAIT! I CAN FIND OUT WHERE HE IS!" all but screamed the shaking human, the… 'limbs' filled with teeth and spikes that seemed to breathe in every direction stopping an inch from turning his face into a pulp.

 **"…how?"**

"M-my phone…do you…still have it?" asked the young man while trying to contain a sob.

For all answer, another of those monstrous limbs…tentacles or whatever, reached out form the darkness, offering the device 'she' had taken from him after whatever was guiding her apparently suggested it.

With trembling hands, Eiji grabbed the phone and, after failing twice, called one of the few numbers in his directory.

Praying to all Gods that there was enough signal down there and that there would be an answer, the human shook as he felt the abomination surrounding him, as if considering to tear him apart…

"…Eiji-kun?! Eiji-kun, is that you?!"

"He-hello, Dr. Shigemura…" cried the young man with massive relief, feeling something akin to curiosity in the monster waiting in the dark.

"Forget about me, what's wrong?! You disappeared without a word and the elevator where you were last seen had the hatch destroyed! We had to notify the police and…are you okay?" there was a pause, even as the man on the other side of the line realized something. "…are you crying…?"

"Ple-please, I need you to forget that right now, I'm fine, Dr. Shigemura, but…d-do you know where Yuuna is?" asked Eiji while feeling utmost regret.

"Yuuna? She is at the Isshiki Beach Resort in Kanagawa with some friends of the family, my student paid for it and…Eiji-kun, really, what's wrong? Where are you?"

"…I'm sorry." was all that the human said before hanging up, turning to look at the abomination in the darkness. "I know where your brother is. I can…I can take you there, quickly, if you promise not to hurt Yuuna."

Slowly, the inhuman eyes seemed to regard him, as if he was some sort of peculiarly bothersome bug. Then, it seemed to growl towards something he couldn't see, whatever it was guiding it, 'her', before receding into the dark once more.

A few seconds later, the girl called 'Mirai' emerged from the darkness, completely naked. The sight didn't cause any reaction except revulsion and fear in the young man, however.

Not after having seen IT for what it actually was.

"Lead the way, human. I don't care for the one you seem to regard as your mate, so long as she stays away from my brother." replied Mirai without an ounce of emotion, her eyes turning into that inhuman visage for a moment. "Otherwise, I will just eat you both. And feed the remains to my brother."

Nodding as he felt his whole body shake, Eiji nodded. Then, he followed after the monster disguised as a girl.

For some reason, despite having no other option, he had a feeling that he had just done the worst action of his life…

* * *

 _"Never say Dreams come true because Nightmares are Dreams too…"_ – Oscar Wilde (Sinisterly right).

* * *

Waryum the Tryum was many things. Alien. Third-rate researcher. Housemate.

…okay, so, maybe those weren't many things and maybe that last one wasn't particularly impressive, but the point was that the extraterrestrial creature was someone who, at this point, was quite adept at adapting to changes.

From forgotten researcher to semi-homeless rogue trying to end a threat he had accidentally unleashed. From that to kinda-friend of the now harmless 'threat'. From that to comfortably living roommate of several human-alien hybrids.

Actually, a part of him even regretted not having gone with them to this beach resort thing they had all gone together with X-K…with the rest of Kazuto's friends and the weird boy himself. Nowadays, he saw the former terminally ill humans more like family than he ever had with any member of his race.

Then again, if he thought back on how Tryums usually were for…almost everything, that wasn't that much of an accomplishment. But that aside, he really liked the kids (Given how old he was in their race's years, he had no problem thinking of all of them as kids). They were a bit weird, especially the younger ones, seemed like one dysfunctional but happy family and were way too nonchalant about having basically been turned into pseudo-biological horrors from any human perspective (And been forced to live away from their families in this secluded place, with an alien no less, while the world thinking they had been kidnapped and/or killed).

Even so, they were…happy. Especially after Kazuto had managed to secretly establish contact between them and their families to reconnect them. And, as such, they had made _him_ happy, giving him a sense of purpose and companionship he hadn't felt in…well, not since he had been stationed on Earth so long ago, that's for sure.

Sadly, besides the MANY inconveniences it would cause if he were to go with them (Despite Kayaba Akihiko's assurances, after Kazuto asked, that it would be no problem), the alien researcher couldn't afford to leave his current 'project' unfinished.

Namely, the countless mechanical parts that lay scattered around the ground, some looking broken and some as if they were once something else that had been disassembled, the moonlight of the recently arriving night being the only thing illuminating it all (As he had forgotten turning on any other light, too busy). Also, there was the 'minor' fact that Waryum was missing half of one of his legs, even though it was already slowly regenerating.

All of it was concentrated in a, for his species standards, oversized contraption looking like a box with several panels on the center and fleshy fits as its core, which pulsed weirdly as electricity was funneled through them.

It was extremely primitive, especially as he had been forced to use much more mechanical than biological parts (Never mind that they were raw from his own body instead of properly and carefully prepared for such a thing), but it was still the first working piece of his species' technology the alien would have been able to create since his laboratory was destroyed over 14 years ago.

"C'mon…please, don't let me screw up this time, using my fucking leg was really painful…" begged the Tryum to whatever superior cosmic entity could hear him as he dexterously connected circuits and cables in ways no one on Earth would have been able to make much sense of. "I really need to know I didn't waste all that…yes!"

With that last cry of victory, Waryum's eyes illuminated with relieved joy, countless streams of words and numbers appearing on the screens that were on top of the 'box' he had made, the extraterrestrial creature almost slumping in relief.

Finally! It had taken him weeks of sleepless work, sacrificing half of one of his limbs, and making an overly complex connection with the rooftop's newest antenna, but he had managed to make a working receiver-transmitter Tryum device! Sure, it ran with electricity (And a lot of it), wasn't portable, had a clunky interface and barely had enough range to work within the planet (Or transmissions that arrived at it), but it was a noticeable progress. At this rate, maybe in a few decades he would be able to establish a connection with Tryum-Delta again, then subtly demand for backup equipment while making up some lame excuse about why his lab had blown up, then tell them all the specimens within had died and…

In that single moment, the last thing Waryum the Tryum could have expected to hear reached his ears, piercing through the relief and tiredness that had been filling him like a knife made of meteoric ice.

"(…X-K0941…proceeding with mission…)"

"What?!" all but screamed the alien while standing up, his several eyes shooting towards the speakers he had installed on the 'box' (Cannibalized from several modern radios and PCs), his gaze also catching sight of the countless lines of information and codes on the screen.

They were clearly indicating 'Transmission Intercepted'.

"(…Recover of… X-K0940…humans in…must not be harmed…disregard if…in the way…)"

The full implications of what he was hearing hit Waryum like a ton of bricks in less than a second.

Someone had come. Somehow, someone had known about his failure…no, someone had known something was 'wrong' with X-K0940. With Kazuto.

And they had brought X-K0941 to recapture. Here, on Earth, right at that moment.

That nightmarish **monster** was on the planet…looking for its _sibling_ …its brother.

A brother that didn't even know that thing existed or the danger it was for him…for his family, for everything he knew and loved…because the alien had thought he was doing him a favor by not telling him.

 _"Waryum-jii!"_

 _Screams and terror, an inhuman howl of anguish and rage consuming everything, nothing but flesh and blood that consumed everything like hungry oceans remaining, and eyes of nightmare emerging everywhere…_

"No…nononono!" shouted the Tryum while he scrambled madly towards his hackjob of a device, barely remembering in time to not crush it by mistake as he quickly typed several commands, cursing how primitive it had to be. "Hello, can you hear me?! This is Third-Rate Researched Waryum from Earth's Facility, Series Code 747! Abort the mission, you heard me?! Under no circumstances let X-K0941 near…!"

Then, as if it was some cruel joke of Fate, Waryum's device 'died', turning off and stopping working for seemingly no reason. Incredulous, the Tryum looked around, a terrible sense of foreboding consuming him as he reached for the closest switch and tried to turn on the lights.

Nothing. And given Kayaba Akihiko paid their bills, it meant…

Someone had cut off the energy from the building.

Outside, within a parked nondescript van, a bespectacled man adjusted his glasses, looking directly at the portable PC on his lap while another in full tactical gear at his side raised a walkie-talkie.

"Confirmed. Energy has been cut. Good job, Team Alpha."

"…we have confirmation there is only one target inside the building?" asked the first man with a serious tone.

"Affirmative, lieutenant Seijirou." replied the agent with a small nod. "Only the 'creepy cosplayer' should be there."

Looking back at his screen after the confirmation, Seijirou Kikuoka nodded to himself while looking at the files and images shown on it.

Namely, those belonging to the small guild within Sword Art Online that had been called 'Sleeping Knights'.

All of them terminally ill patients that had met each other in the 'virtual hospice' Serene Garden. That had then 'traveled' together through a few virtual worlds until they ended up within the game their leader (And he too, by a coincidence of Fate) had been Beta Tester of. Then, not long after that, they had all been kidnapped from the different hospitals they were in, with no witnesses in any of the different incidents.

Only his superiors in the quite recently formed branch of the government to deal with problems related with FullDive Technology (Virtual Reality incidents, as one could have called it) had figured out there was an actual connection for the seemingly random victims beyond their seemingly hopeless clinical states. Common authorities had already all but abandoned the investigation because of how long it had been without any leads.

Of course, his team hadn't. They had secretly continued the investigation using leads nobody else had and, after careful analysis, they had discovered something 'odd'.

Namely, a few months ago, the relatives of most of the victims (Sans those of An Si-eun and the Konno Twins) had started to visit that specific building in Tokyo at regular intervals. Upon further investigation, the fact that the building had been completely abandoned until recently had easily come to life, and that all the renovations were surprisingly recent too.

Then, when he had assigned a basic surveillance team to the area, the results were…shocking.

Over the last months, the relatives of the disappeared/kidnapped patients were seen exiting the building with unknowns that had an almost perfect physical match with the aforementioned 'victims'…if they had never been terminally ill, that is. And even some of them had been seen going out on their own, though for some reason the agents that followed them always lost them quite fast until they returned.

There was no way those WERE the victims, though. Even if something like An Si-eun's leukemia could maybe be recovered from, Konno Yuuki and Konno Aiko had AIDS, and Yamada Akane had cancer because of a tumor on her brain. Last thing known of them, the twins could barely move at all and Akane had lost the ability to use her legs.

And as if all of that wasn't unsettling enough, there was the matter of the last resident of the building (Whose buyer had apparently been none other than Kayaba Akihiko, to make matters seem crazier). The mysterious cosplayer that worked at a shitty ramen shop on Akihabara and that was only known as 'Waryum'.

No one had ever seen him out of his bizarrely complex costume anywhere, and he always exited the building already wearing it. Never mind the fact that, no matter how much they had tried, they hadn't been able to find out anything regarding his identity.

Clearly, there was something big going on here, even if Kikuoka wasn't sure exactly _what_ (A conspiracy? Human experimentation? Cloning? Something that actually didn't sound like a madman's ramblings?). However, he had gathered more than enough circumstantial evidence for his superiors to acknowledge something wrong was happening and finally gotten the clearance to run this operation.

With a final nod of self-assurance, the lieutenant took a deep breath and activated his own communicator, given the order everyone had been tensely waiting for.

"Operation is a go. Get inside."

As one, several cars rushed from the nearby streets, more than a few agents in tactical gear emerging from them, quickly cordoning off and surrounding the building.

From within, Waryum the Tryum could only look down in horror through one of the windows, unable to believe his terrible luck could befall him again in that precise moment.

Back on the dark side of the moon, though, a confused/shocked silence was filling the Tryums' spaceship at the interrupted and very poorly-received transmission they had just intercepted with their systems.

"…sweet Fate, was that actually Waryum?" asked Grotek with honest surprise. "Bastard is really alive?"

"And, apparently, knows that X-K0940 is running around unsupervised. That will no doubt require a lot of explaining on his part." frowned Ubom while crossing his arms, apparently in deep thought. "But…his transmission cutting off like that was abnormal. Prepare the cloaking systems and try to triangulate his exact position, let's make that idiot isn't about to screw something else."

"Wha-what about his interrupted warning, though?" asked Pibap from where he sat before one of the screens, clearly looking worried. "That we should abort he ope…?"

"Dismiss it and get the rest of X-K0941's biomass up to the coordinates she's about to intercept her 'brother' in, she will probably it." waved it off the first of the High Researchers, much to the technician's clear despair. "Recovering X-K0940 is a priority over Waryum's safety or mad ramblings, after all."

"…yes, High Researcher." mumbled the younger Tryum while operating his control panel, hesitating a moment near the end before sighing and inputting the commands. "The pod containing the rest of X-K0941 is en-route. Expected time of arrival, 5.3 Earth minutes."

"Good. Now, let's get into Earth's atmosphere and find Waryum. Who knows, with some luck, we will get everything done and start heading back home tonight, heh."

Even as Grotek's soft chuckle echoed in the ship's bridge, Pibap couldn't help but feel a chill going down his back.

As if they had just made a terrible mistake…

* * *

Shining majestically over the ocean, the full moon looked like a silver eye watching over everything and everyone, wishing them a peaceful dream and sweet dreams.

At least, that's what Kirigaya Kazuto thought as he sat at the edge of the water, easily ignoring the cold despite only wearing his swimming trunks and nothing more, feeling the sand under him and hearing the sound of the waves with a slightly lost expression as he looked towards the stars.

It was like that how Asuna and Suguha found him, already changed out of their swimsuits and with jackets over them.

"Onii-chan? Kayaba-san already came to pick us up, it's time to go." softly called him out the young kendoka, making the inhuman boy blink and look back at them.

"Ah, Sugu, Asuna! Is…is it really that late already? Sorry, I was…lost in thought." chuckled the alien experiment while standing up.

"Honestly, Kazuto-kun, you should be more aware of your surroundings, you know? You're not a child anymore!" scolded the chestnut-haired girl without any real heat into it, before offering her hand to him. "C'mon now! Yuuna already went ahead to greet her 'uncle' and we wouldn't want to make him wait after he basically gifted this whole trip to us, right?"

"Yeah, Akihiko-san is an awesome friend in that regard, so let's not do that." smiled Kazuto before giving one last glance towards the sky, something that didn't go unnoticed by his adoptive sister.

"Onii-chan…is something wrong?" asked Suguha while putting a hand on his shoulder, following his gaze. "You're not…having weird thoughts about where you belong again, right?"

"Huh, so Yuuna told you about that, uh?" mumbled the black-haired boy before smiling at her. "No, not at all. I was just…admiring how beautiful all life is. And how great my life is. I mean, look! I'm standing near the ocean and I barely feel the need to run away because you two are with me!"

"…you just accepted you're still terrified of it, Kazuto-kun." chuckled Asuna with a soft smile, making the young kendoka laugh too while the alien experiment pouted.

"I really can't help it, Asuna…but really, I just love everything about this world and all that lives on it. I wish there was a way I could make it all happy. And…" trailing off, Kazuto once again looked towards the heavens, a weird smile appearing on his face. "…I'm happy even I cannot really break the most basic law of its Life."

"Eh?" asked a confused Suguha, the Yuuki Heiress' expression mimicking hers. "What…what do you mean with that, Onii-chan?"

"I can't make more life like me by myself! Not really, anyway." cheerfully explained the inhuman boy with almost childish glee. "I can't create Souls, after all."

A strange silence passed among the trio while both girls exchanged equally confused glances.

"Uhm…Kazuto-kun, you make it sound as if…you knew souls were actually a thing…"

"Oh, because they are! At least, I don't know anything else to call them which fit better. They're what makes someone everything they are and are located on a part of the brain, like countless ever-fluctuating lights that join together to create a single beautiful unit." smiled the alien experiment while both females looked at him in shock. "I saw them when I 'fixed' the Sleeping Knights, after all."

"Wa-wait, you saw their souls?! Tha-that's…woah, I don't even know what to say, Onii-chan…" confessed the boy's adopted sister with a complex look.

"Yeah, and I know, there is no biological way I can reproduce them. They're beautiful and fragile, I would never dare to try and mess one unless there was no other option…and also something that comes from within you, not something one can pull from thin air." continued Kazuto while looking at them with smiles. "I know, I tried. And to know even something like me is still tied to the rules of Life…it makes me really happy, you know?"

"…heh, only you could casually confess you can apparently mess with other people's 'souls' but be happy that you can't make them, Kazuto-kun." laughed Asuna before pulling him towards her, embracing him., Suguha only pouting slightly at the gesture. "…what about your soul, then? How it is?"

"…mine is…weird. It's not on my 'brain', but all over me, and…the lights that form it are all different instead of the same type, like those of everyone else, as if they were…plucked pieces from a lot of different puzzles that somehow fit together." reluctantly confessed the inhuman boy. "Then again, it shouldn't surprise me to be different that way…."

"It's fine, Onii-chan." whispered his adoptive sister while embracing him from behind, making the alien experiment smile at feeling two of the people he loved the most so close to him. "We don't care about you or your soul…we love you exactly as you are. Right, Asuna-san?"

"…yes, we do." muttered the chestnut-haired girl with her eyes closed, slightly surprised at how easy it was to say it. "And…Kazuto-kun?"

"Yes, Asu…?"

The kiss was fast, yet loving, and certainly unexpected. Kazuto didn't even have time to properly respond before the Yuuki Heiress pulled back, chuckling at his and Asuna's gobsmacked expressions.

"I was the one you haven't kissed yet despite having asked for my hand in marriage, you know?"

"…ye-yeah, sorry about that." chuckled the black-haired boy, keenly aware of how Suguha hugged him tighter, as if demanding something. "Why don't you let me fix…?"

Suddenly, the alien experiment froze before his gaze shot to the side, eyes narrowed in confusion/worry while his whole demeanor changed, making both girls stiffen.

"Onii-chan?"

"Kazuto-kun, what's wro…?"

"Yuuna-chan." answered Kazuto while his gaze sharpened, making it clear he was hearing something noticeable outside the standard human auditory range. "She's shouting and…she's with someone else…her childhood friend? But what's he doing he…?"

 **I'M .HERE**

Kirigaya Kazuto wasn't even aware he was screaming or that he had fallen to his knees while clutching his head, the worried screams of two of the most important people in his life suddenly becoming… _meaningless_.

 _Burning skies, seas of flesh, stars that were bleeding…_

 **FINALLY .FOR .YOU**

It was wrong, **yet it wasn't.**

I belong. _(I do not)._

It has been so long _(But I was happy)_.

I was incomplete _(No…I never felt like that)_.

Whole again _(What…is this…?)._

WHO .ARE .YOU?!

 **I .AM .YOU… MY .PRECIOUS .ONE.**

Gasping, the inhuman boy stood up, instinctively pushing both Asuna and Suguha behind him, his breathing sharp and worked.

Both of them were already busy staring at the strangers that had appeared seemingly from nowhere less than 10 meters from them, though.

Shakily, the black-haired boy in the swimming trunks stared forward, feeling unusually cold all of a sudden, his eyes turned into those inhuman red slits with golden sclera and black veins that characterized him, fighting against the unknown revulsion consuming his 'human' mind at the terrible _longing_ his body was suddenly feeling.

The white-haired girl in a kimono stared back at him with identical eyes.

Then, she smiled, a smile so big and raw that it split her face.

…literally, as her human face was all but split as flesh parted for her 'mouth' to grow beyond the lips, countless sharp teeth emerging from the gaping maw…

"Hello, brother. I have come for you."

Unseen, the world trembled.

For the twisted abomination pretending to be human and the purest human born as an abomination had finally met again…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** And so, shit has finally gotten real, ladies and gentlemen.

Some more nice character development and interaction all around, but it all comes crashing down all of a sudden, like in a true 'horror' setting. 'Mirai' aside, bet more than one of you had already forgotten Kikuoka was mentioned to be following the Sleeping Knight's 'kidnapping' several chapters ago, eh? And now it all ties together in a destructive spiral…

Oh, and if you thought Kazuto's whole explanation/description about 'souls' and where they are was familiar, that's because it's canon to SAO at least, and you have read the novels too :3

Also, poor Eiji. While I hold nothing but contempt by the Canon version of him, his character is truly tragic, especially as it seems Reki tried to make his life as shitty as possible to 'justify' his actions, as shown in both the mini-prequel and mini-sequel novels for Ordinal Scale. He actually was a decent human being back before SAO, and when he was 'Nautilus' he also showed to be pretty competent, but life just fucked him over again. Adding to that that he was WAY too focused on Yuuna to the point that when it comes down to her he suddenly stops giving a fuck about everyone and everything else (As shown in Ordinal Scale, even about her own wishes, as Selflessness Incarnate-idol would have never condoned what he and her father were doing and he clearly knew it deep inside), he was literally written to get completely screwed the moment she was gone. In this universe, it's just his bad luck hitting again, first Yuuna meeting Kirito just as their 'High School Distancing' (Which is canon, btw) was beginning and then he not inviting her to SAO but Kazuto doing so with everyone else instead, and now running into Mirai first, it really is just something after another. He was just trying to 'protect' Yuuna, but…yeah.

Next time, see as everything goes insane when the Lusus Naturae faces the galaxy's most cunning and heartless predator, and Waryum faces off against armed government agents with nothing but his wits and domestic materials.

…yeah, I wouldn't bet much on him either. But well, that's for another chapter! For now, I leave you all with today's Omake, the conclusion to the previous one's events!

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 8: Freak V Youkai**

Akashiya Moka's 'true' (Inner) personality, that of her monster form, was a powerful, prideful and serious creature. The absolute opposite of her sweet, caring and overall non-threatening Outer self. By all rights, she would have hated all about it and about being 'imprisoned' within the Rosario instead of her.

Except that she didn't, at all. And for some reason she couldn't properly recall, as if something blurry kept her memories messy, she actually had a soft spot for her 'weaker' and much more emotional self.

Unexplainable feelings about herself aside, though, it all came down to the fact that, at the end of the day, the Super Vampire cared quite a bit for her pink-haired self, almost as if it was an instinct ingrained into her, since she had become aware again when her Rosario was removed.

The point? Kirigaya Kazuto.

A bizarre boy. Even happier and more innocent than her other self, apparently wielding quite the terrifying power for whatever kind of monster he was. Also possessing an uncanny ability to draw attention to himself, both the good and the bad, and make quite 'curious' people gather around him.

Certainly, not even a year ago she would have laughed if anyone had offered the thought of being genuine friends with a flirty succubus, a prepubescent genius witch, and a perverted werewolf.

And yet, thanks to Kazuto, 'Akashiya Moka' could say they were the closest and nicest friends she had ever had. More so than even her sisters, in fact. Truly, despite how irritating he was…the Inner one couldn't truly say she disliked him.

But there was also that lingering 'mystery' in the back of her mind. That strange feeling she got when she looked too deep into his eyes or how she sometimes swore she could hear 'whispers' in the distance every time her Outer self drank his blood…

At that moment, the feeling was amplified more than ever, the silver-haired vampire feeling as if her blood was drumming and boiling within her veins while they STARED at the creature that had just saved them.

Massive, the size of the school bus or perhaps bigger. With way too many eyes in all the wrong places, those hauntingly familiar eyes they had seen on the boy's face more than once. Two massive limbs shielding them from the side, many abnormal ones that seemed to act as legs covering most of its lower body. A sea of sharp tendrils and spikes covering its back.

Inner Moka had a vast knowledge of monsters. There were few Youkai or legends she didn't know about, even if for some reason she couldn't quite recall exactly where she had heard about most of them (As her Outer self had never been too interested in such things). She knew more than one looked quite terrifying and also that some 'hybrids' (The so-called Monstrels or 'Outcast Ayashi') looked quite strange or deformed in the eyes of most pure monsters.

Yet, none was able to inspire the sheer feeling of _wrongness_ within her soul that the abomination with the massive maw was causing, even as its biggest eyes seemed fixed on the Battle Form-changed Yoko that was Kuyou.

Also, she was once again having strange visions as she felt the blood within her boiling, those of seas of flesh and bleeding stars _that were not stars as they opened to…!_

 **"Hey…are you all okay?"** asked a clearly worried voice coming from one of the 'mouths' closer to where they stood under the beast's torso, breaking the Super Vampire out of her delirious state and making all of them blink. **"I didn't hurt any of you when I covered us…right?"**

The same inflection. The same stupidly annoying innocence. The same childish worry.

Despite having turned into something even most youkai would have called a nightmarish abomination…there was no denying the thing before them was Kirigaya Kazuto, perhaps even less changed than most monsters did when assuming their True Forms.

"…holy brooms, Kazuto-san! You got enormous!" shouted Yukari with weirdly horrified awe while she looked all around the creature's massive frame.

 **"Ah, yes. Sorry about that, I usually prefer not changing like this, but…that attack could have vaporized you all. I couldn't let that happen."** declared Kazuto with an unusually angry tone, before all of his eyes blinked in realization. **"…oh crap! I wrecked my uniform again! Mom is going to kill me if the bills are actually getting back to her…"**

"He-hey, don't say that, Kazuto!" quickly interjected Kurumu before, with surprising swiftness, latching into one of the Lusus Naturae's many tendrils, hugging it as she would usually do his arms. "I-I can help you pay for that if you want to! You just saved our lives, after all!"

 **"Ku-Kurumu-chan, I could never ask you for such a thing!"** quickly denied the abomination while shaking his head (And, somehow, blushing slightly).

"…I picked a fight with this thing…" was all that escaped Ginei's mouth, the werewolf still looking quite traumatized at his junior's transformation.

"…so, this is the True Form of a 'Lusus Naturae', uh?" finally interrupted Kuyou's angry voice, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "Got to say, you caught me off guard for a moment, managing to survive my flames like that, but…you're just one big ugly thing. I can sense no actual power coming from you, little freak!"

It was true, a small part of Moka's still shaken mind noticed. All monsters had a certain 'power', commonly called Youki, within them, from minuscule to massive depending on their race's and power. While in 'human' form, most could easily hide it except for the strongest ones, but it was most certainly unleashed without restraint once they assumed their true one, like a river being released from a blockade.

Kazuto, however…felt nothing like that. Despite that uncanny feeling of 'wrongness' that his real form caused, not an ounce of Youki could be felt coming from him, unlike that of the Yoko, that was still keeping all the random students around pressed down on the ground.

"Tha-that bully isn't going to just leave us alone, is he?" asked Yukari before taking a deep breath, gripping her wand tightly. "O-okay, let's go! If we all go together, we can…!"

 **"No. All of you stay here."** declared the Lusus Naturae with the most serious tone they had ever heard him use **. "He tried to hurt…to KILL you. My most important people. I won't forgive him for that. Moka-san."**

"Wha-what?" questioned the Super Vampire while looking straight at his 'head', the massive eyes staring back at her.

Wordlessly, one of the tendrils handed her back the familiar form of her rosary, which she softly held while Kurumu reluctantly let go of him too, feeling her other self's worry practically pouring from it.

 **"Keep an eye on them."**

"Are you done ignoring me, you ugly cre…?"

Kuyou couldn't finish his sentence, because half a dozen tendrils hit his body with the power of a cannonball and the strength of a stampede, throwing the Yoko into the ground and through it for several meters.

The Newspaper's Club blinked, looking in shock how the massive beast had somehow moved away from them _without them realizing it_ , now practically spinning through the air like a demented drill.

"Whoa! So fast!"

"I didn't even see him moving!"

"Impossible…"

"…I picked a fight with THAT…"

Just marginally aware of what his friends were saying, Kazuto landed violently just as Kuyou shot forward, snarling and unleashing fire while his clawed hand reached upwards, aiming for his biggest eye.

On instinct, 'lateral eyelids', like those one would see in a water-faring reptile, covered all his exposed ocular globes, the flames able to easily turn bone into ash in just a second splashing harmlessly around him while the S-Class Monster's claws scrapped off his body, feeling as if trying to cut through diamond.

Kuyou's shock was more than evident even as the Lusus Naturae looked at him angrily, one of his upper limbs shooting forward and tightly gripping him, before extending thrice its length and slamming the screaming Yoko on the ground.

He hadn't done that since he was a kid, to scare off the 'monster in the closet' that tried to get him and Sugu. And he couldn't recall ever feeling so angry…except perhaps back when Waryum had hurt his little sister.

Yes, this was similar to that kind of animal anger…but different. Back then it had been uncontrolled and feral; an instinctual need of harming whatever had harmed one he loved. There was also the fact that the Tryum had done that by mistake, a terrible accident he didn't mean to cause in the first place.

Here, though…

"Gah…! You insolent…!"

 **"Shut up. Seismic Toss!"**

"Wha…?! AAAAAAAGHHHHH!"

Here, the anger was real. Under his own will. Here, the young man, monster, whatever, the 'person' he was holding as he catapulted himself to the heavens, had actually tried to kill 4 people he cared for, just for his own petty reasons.

Here, as he spun around while falling and _threw_ Kuyou's screaming form down as if he was an improvised meteor, he couldn't help but feel an almost animal satisfaction at the crater which formed as the Yoko crashed down.

"…he just…manhandled Kuyou as if he was nothing…" mumbled Ginei with absolute shock.

"Yeah! That's our Kazuto! Show him who is boss!" cheered Kurumu while jumping on the air.

"…did he just actually do a Seismic Toss?" asked a clearly awed Yukari.

"Kirigaya Kazuto…" muttered Inner Moka while feeling the happy relief coming from her Rosario, her eyes never leaving the black creature as it landed near where his enemy had fallen. "Just what the hell are you…?"

 **"It's over, Kuyou-sempai."** declared the Lusus Naturae with a menacing growl, looking down at the smoking crater before him. **"Now we will leave you to the Headmaster to decide what to do with…"**

"DIE!"

With that roar of raw anger, a veritable tornado of burning blue flames exploded upwards, consuming Kazuto's form and scorching the air around them, many students screaming as the heat became unbearable and even burned some of the most unfortunate ones closest to the area.

"NO!" screamed both Mokas at the same time, from within and outside the rosary, just as everyone else called out Kazuto's name.

"Hah…hah…how was that, you freak?" gasped the Yoko while floating from the crater, looking more exhausted than ever and badly hurt, but still able to float. "Have you tasted the true power of the Fox Fir…?"

 **"Was that supposed to be hot?"** asked the dark and distorted voice of the abomination as it emerged from the smoke, still completely unharmed, shocking everyone around **. "Because I barely felt it."**

"Ho…how?! Those were my strongest flames! Nothing…even the highest of Youkai should at least have been hurt by that!" screamed Kuyou in complete denial. "How could they do nothing to you?!"

How, indeed. If he had to be honest, Kazuto wasn't really sure. But…

 _Vague images of a burning planet, rivers of magma exploding everywhere and the very atmosphere seeming about to catch fire, and he calmly eating while something fed him the roaring and eyeless plasma-breathing dragon-like things that were flying around…_

…it did not matter how. Just that it was like that.

And even as the image of those blind and winged alien beasts emerged from within him, feeling the inside of his throat changing, the Lusus Naturae knew that it wouldn't have mattered even if he knew the answer.

All that mattered…was making sure the one before him never tried to hurt those he cared about again.

 **"Let me show you what REAL heat is supposed to be like, Kuyou-sempai…and perhaps try again when you actually have 9 tails…"**

"What…?"

 **"OVERHEAT!"**

Letting out that thunderous declaration, roaring plasma exploded from within Kazuto's jaws, the beam of burning power slamming straight into the Yoko, giving one of the supposedly fire-resistant top-tier races the rare pleasure of feeling what _burning_ was like.

His screams were still echoing as his body flew over the academy and, without any fanfare, slammed into the blood-red ocean surrounding it.

Several seconds of silence passed as everyone blinked, the random students around slowly standing up and looking from the heavily scorched fields to the tall and blinking form of the Lusus Naturae, who blinked in surprise in the direction Kuyou had vanished.

 **"Oh…o-oh damn. I-I think I may have…gone a bit too far with…"**

"KAZUTO!" shouted Kurumu while all but slamming on the side of one of his massive 'arms', a massive smile on the succubus face. "You did it!"

"I never doubted you would, Kazuto-san!" cheered Yukari while running to his side too.

"…ye-yeah, go you…please, don't eat me." mumbled Ginei as he also nervously walked near the group.

 **"Eh? Gin-sempai, I would never eat you…and don't worry girls, I just really had to…"**

"Kirigaya Kazuto."

The others' eyes were immediately drawn at the beautiful and regal Super Vampire as she walked silently and with purpose, staring right into Kazuto's main eye as he looked down at her curiously.

"Yes, Moka-san?"

"…you did a good job. You…you have my thanks for that." reluctantly accepted Inner Moka before looking away, arms crossed over her bust as she pointedly ignored Kurumu's chuckle.

 **"Aww…it's fine Moka-san, I'm sure you would have done the same for me."** sincerely replied the Lusus Naturae before, with a sound of quivering flesh, his form quickly shrunk, changing shape and color into a familiar one. "After all, that's what friends are for, right?"

"Hmmph, don't presume that you can casually call me…AH!" squeaked the silver-haired girl upon turning around, her face immediately turning scarlet red.

On the side, Yukari's eyes were wide as saucers, a silly smile very out of place in someone her age having taken over her face as a bit of blood fell from her nose.

Kurumu simply openly stared, not-so-subtly licking her lips.

Confused, the black-haired boy stared back at them.

"Uhm…is something wrong?"

"…Kazuto, kid…you're naked." pointed out Ginei now that his junior's real form was no longer traumatizing him, making the alien experiment look down at himself and remember that little fact.

"O-oh…that's right." commented Kazuto with a heavy blush before poorly trying to cover his most-noticeably-human traits with his hands, looking away with embarrassment. "I-I should have waited before trying to transform back, shouldn't I?"

For all answer, the silver-haired vampire before him squeaked more gibberish before quickly putting on her Rosario again, sealing herself.

The moment the once again pink-haired Moka opened her eyes, though, her gaze fell upon the black-haired boy's body, her face went scarlet and she fell flat on her back, unconscious and with a silly smile.

Almost an hour later, a sighing alien experiment was heading back to the dorms followed by all of his friends, the girls seeming on their own little world while Ginei helped him to not drag the oversized jacket and shirt he was wearing as makeshift clothing.

"Thanks for lending me your clothes, Gin-sempai. I promise I will wash them and hand them back tomorrow."

"Kid…no, Kazuto, after what you just pulled before, you could probably ask for one of my kidneys and I still wouldn't come close to repaying you." chuckled the werewolf before ruffling his friend's head.

"It's no problem, Gin-sempai…besides, after what you told me, those guys more than deserved it. To think they were the reason you were the only remaining member of the Newspaper Club before us…" commented Kazuto with a frown and a clenched fist, before blinking and smiling brightly as he looked behind them. "Which reminds me, good job dealing with the spider-girl back then, Yukari! Why didn't you tell us you could use ice-magic, though?"

"Uh?" blinked the little witch while looking at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Ehm, you know, back before Kuyou showed up again? The spider girl had just tried to run for the forest, but you froze her before she could get too deep into the trees…"

"Etto, Kazuto-san, while I'm flattered you think so highly of my magic, I haven't actually tried any elemental spells of enough power to do something like that." confessed the little girl while looking to the side, drawing even Moka and Kurumu's attention to the strange conversation.

"…but, if you didn't do it…who froze the spider-girl?"

Back in the scorched area where the 'battle' which would be remembered in future generations of Youkai Academy as the one-sided beatdown of Newspaper Club versus Public Safety Commission, several staff members were assessing the damage and moving the unconscious and badly beaten bodies of the PSC's members to get medical treatment (And the notification of their group having been disbanded).

Just past the edge of the forest closest to the area, though…the scared and 'running' form of the Jorogumo known as Keito was frozen solid within a chunk of ice, unable to move.

Sitting calmly atop a branch of a nearby tree, a serene figure hummed softly as she looked from the frozen girl to the destroyed 'battlefield', a tingle of excited warmth filling her as she remembered the form of Kazuto completely obliterating Kuyou.

Happily looking down and starting to read once again her copy of the school's newspaper that she had gotten before that day's commotion started, the girl with long light-purple hair and eyes the color of raw ice idly played with the lollypop within her mouth.

"So interesting…"

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** Huh, is anyone else feeling a cold chill coming all of a sudden :P?

Okay, terrible jokes aside, that was it! Poor Kuyou-san…the douche truly had no chance, despite being quite powerful as far as the first-part of the manga's villains go, really. After all, while Moka was still physically stronger, the absurd power of his fire (The whole 'incinerating even bone in seconds' is no joke pals, that's canon if official info is to be believed) made him terribly deadly for anyone in the main cast to have next to no chance, which was not helped by the circumstances in Canon.

Too bad for him, he's still a thousand years too early before he can hope to burn through the resistance Kazuto developed through the literal hells the Tryums put him and his sister. As mentioned in previous chapters, he probably would have better luck throwing him into the sun.

Also, Pokemon Moves belong to their creators! Lusus-kun only shouted them aloud because...well, you know how he is :D

Next time, something icy and stalkerish comes the freaks way…but what is colder than loneliness…?


	14. Chapter 12: Apex Predator

Hi there guys…it's been a while, hasn't it? I'm still alive, for those wondering, and if you want to know why here is the reason, but I know some may not be too interested in my personal life so you can skip the following paragraph too if you want to.

Anyway, the thing is, just as I finished putting up the last Update of The Eroge, I was called to start my summer job. It was very sudden and I started very fast too, I'm working at a hotel until halfway next month, and it's in a VERY annoying schedule, split into two shifts early in the morning and from late evening to late night so most of my free time, especially my writing one, has been killed because of it. Now, I can't really complain about it realistically, as I'm getting paid and I'm going to put the money to good use, but that's the reason why this Update was SO delayed: I literally had written nothing of it before I was left with nigh-zero time to write. In fact, most of this was written on my only free day of every week for the last 3 (As the first week I didn't have one). With that said, expect the next Updates to not happen until a few days after my job ends, especially as the next one in the schedule, OPG:CoF, had to be an Interlude which was going to be a bit long, and with my current shifts trying to write it would be a bit too much. But just know that's the reason, my stories aren't dead or being abandoned at all. Just letting you know :)

And finally, with that outta the way, we can get on with this long-delayed chapter! Hope you all enjoy it and that it was even just a little bit worth the long delay. Have fun seeing the freaks of nature clash and important developments take place! Oh, and, as always, help with the TvTropes page of this story would be greatly appreciated (This one's especially is in urgent need of an Update XP)

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Apex Predator**

 **January 8th, 2024. Kanagawa, Hayama. Isshiki Beach, 21:25…**

Shigemura Yuuna knew her life wasn't really 'normal' by any standards.

Though it could be argued if that had been since the moment she was born as the daughter of the man who had taught the creator of the revolutionary thing that was FullDive technology, the discovery of her prodigal talent for singing, the moment she lost her mother…

But for her, without a doubt, what truly had changed her life was meeting that strange black-haired boy a few years ago, sitting there on a desk of her father's famous apprentice's lab, checking some weird notes.

Kirigaya Kazuto. Her singing rival, her best friend, her first crush…the boy she loved.

That he was also some crazy alien experiment from the other side of the cosmos probably had a lot to do with the 'not normal' classification of her life. In her eyes, though, the fact that he apparently had no problem _loving_ several girls at the same time was an even bigger one, especially as the inhumanly pure an honest boy did so only out of the genuine goodness of his heart, a true wish of making all those he loved happy (Perhaps that's why it had ended up coming down to her being willing to try THAT out? Because of his clearly abnormal honesty and impossible goodwill?).

All in all, Yuuna knew her life could never be called normal, but that was fine for her. If she ever had to choose between a 'normal' life and this one filled with weirdness and hardships, she would the latter every time.

After all, no matter how strange and unreal the things happening around them were, as long as they were together, the songstress felt as if anything and everything was possib…

"Yu-Yuuna!"

The unexpected shout, borderline scream really, stopped the girl dead in her tracks, both because of the unexpectedness of it and because of how familiar the despair-filled voice was.

"Eiji-kun…?" asked the brown-haired girl with confusion, turning around and…"Wha-what the hell?! Eiji-kun, what happened to you?!"

Any confusion Yuuna had about her childhood friend's presence there at that hour was momentarily forgotten in favor of staring in worried horror at him. Though to be fair, Nochizawa Eiji couldn't really blame her.

Between the wrinkled and cuts-filled clothes, the stink he gave (Which hinted at some dark and damp place) and the grime and _blood_ which covered him (Coming from several minor cuts over his body), it was far from the best state his childhood friend and crush had ever seen him in.

"That…doesn't matter!" assured the tall boy with a clearly disturbed look on his eyes, his gaze shooting towards a specific direction of the beach (Where Suguha and Asuna had gone to look for Kazuto, Yuuna realized) several times before he moved to her side and grabbed her hand. "We need to go, quick!"

"Wha-what? Wait, Eiji-kun, stop! You're hurting me!" shouted the idol-wannabe when he tried to pull her arm towards himself with a desperate urge. "What's going on?!"

"We don't…ugh, okay, please, Yuuna, in the name of our friendship, believe what I'm about to tell you!" all but shouted Eiji while his eyes darted from her to the beach repeatedly. "Mo-monsters…there are monsters here…a-and tha-that Kazuto boy you're friends with i-is one of them!"

Shigemura Yuuna felt the blood in her veins turn to ice as the words left her first friend's mouth, a myriad different ideas to try and deny his words filling her mind…before the full scope of them, and the state he was in, made something terrifyingly ominous 'click' in her mind.

"Wait…o-one of 'them'…?"

"Yes! Gods, you won't believe it, but when we la-last saw each other, this crazy girl I had met that morning…she kidnapped me, right from the elevator! E-except that…she was no girl. She was a monster…a-and she said she was looking for her brother!" at that point, the boy seemed clearly on the edge of either a panic attack or a nervous breakdown, the brown-haired girl having never seen him with such an expression. "She to-tortured me…told me to tell her where to find him if I wanted to live…i-it took me a while to realize she meant yo-your friend…it was so dark and it all hurt…"

"Si-sister…a sister? And oh Gods, Eiji-kun…yo-you need to see a doctor!"

"NO! Don't you get it?! There is no time!" screamed the former captive as he gripped the songstress' hands so tight it actually made her groan in pain. "Yo-your 'friend' has been deceiving you all this time a-and now his even more monstrous sister is here for him! I-I got her to promise to not hurt you if I got you out of the way when I brought her to this place, but we need to…!"

"Yo-you brought her here?!" shouted Yuuna while managing to pry one of her hands from his grip, looking at him with shock. "Why would you do that?! Ki…Kazuto is in danger now, if another like him has come for him! I have to warm him!"

"Di-didn't you get the part where that monster tortured me?! And I obviously did this to protect…! Wait." ever-so-slowly, the full implications of what he had just heard finally hit Nochizawa Eiji. "N-no…that can't be right…Yu-Yuuna…you know what that THING was all the time? E-even back at your dad's institute, whe-where…?"

 _'Where I saw you almost kiss him'_ simply couldn't escape the boy's lips. Because the mere idea of accepting that the girl he had loved since he was a kid would willingly do such a thing with an abomination like the one that had kept him in that dark place, terrifying and hurting him for hours…

Yuuna looked away, as if unable to answer him. Eiji felt his heart painfully clenching, his mouth opening to…

"Let go of her, young man."

Head snapping to the side, the two childhood friends came almost face to face with the stern visage of Kayaba Akihiko, arms crossed and looking down at the young man with a not-so-friendly look.

"Kayaba-jii…"

"Ka-Kayaba Akihiko?!" spluttered the surprised Eiji while taking a step back upon seeing the creator of FullDive tech appearing seemingly out of nowhere, dragging the brown-haired girl with him as he seemed to have no intention of letting her go. "How…? What…?"

"Didn't you hear him, boy?" came a new voice that made the tall boy spun around in shock, his heartbeat accelerating when seeing Akane staring at him with an upset look, Yuuki and Aiko at her sides while the rest of the Sleeping Knights had subtly half-surrounded him in the time he had taken his attention off the side that led to the resort. "Let Yuuna-neechan go or you won't like what goes next."

"Yeah, you're hurting her!" pointed out the younger of the twins with a scowl so uncharacteristic of her it actually made Eiji gulp and take a step back despite not knowing the young girl.

"As Yuu said, you're hurting Yuuna-san. Let her go like Merida told you or…you _really_ won't like what comes next." declared the older sister while keeping her twin in check, though also glaring towards the tall young man.

Si-eun and Nobu stepped forward at those words, as if their guild's second in command had somehow given them an unseen order just by doing so.

Surrounded by seemingly countless hostiles, but still refusing to let go of Yuuna's hands, something within Eiji seemed to snap as he exploded angrily at them.

"I-I don't know who the hell you all are, but you need to let me get away! Isn't any of you getting this?! There are some nightmarish monsters here that are about to…!"

A soul-shattering sound exploded through the air, shaking the entirety of the beach and making everyone stumble as their eyes widened.

Calling it a roar would have been the best approximation, but…it would have also been wrong.

A roar implied animalistic intent. A sound made by a thoughtless beast.

This one, however, was filled by such a mix of grief, pain, and anger that nothing but a human being could have made it.

Or, maybe…something stuck between both sides of those definitions.

A massive explosion of sand in the distance ended the sound, followed by much more animalistic screeches.

"KIRITO!" screamed three voices at the same time, Yuuna getting free from her friend's clutch and sprinting towards the beach.

Eiji couldn't even start screaming after her before his heart froze as he saw Yuuki and Akane, the other two that had screamed, 'shift', the former's bones exploding from her back like nightmarish spider-legs and catapulting her forward, the latter's legs mutating as she jumped towards the disturbance like a human-sized flea.

Stumbling back, the black-haired boy fell butt-first on the sand, his gaze suddenly shooting to the several people surrounding him…that were no longer paying him any attention, Aiko reacting the next second and shouting her sister's name before springing in pursuit with a similar mutation, the rest of the Sleeping Knights hesitating for an instant before 'mutating' too and following after their first 3 members.

Kayaba's attention was snapped away from the animalistic sounds in the distance and the running hybrids in time to see the former captive fall down to the sand and curl into a ball, a haunted look on his eyes as he tried to make himself as small as possible.

"Everywhere…they're everywhere…the monsters…"

For an instant, the man hesitated while looking down at the pitifully shaken boy, before a scream of pain tore his attention away and he finally ran after everyone, hoping he could do something, only slightly surprised when he heart the sound of the van he had come to pick up everyone in driving towards his position, a familiar person at the wheel.

Forgotten and alone, Nochizawa Eiji kept muttering to himself.

As such, a few minutes later, he was the first to hear and see how a strange and massive 'pod' flew through the air towards the clash of monsters…

* * *

 _"Doing the right thing is never easy. Especially when only we are convinced it is."_ – Anonymous (Must have had a shitty life…)

* * *

Painfully horrible.

That was the only way Kirigaya Kazuto could describe what he was feeling at that moment.

It was probably the most conflicting emotion (Sensation? Feeling?) he had ever experienced, and he didn't like it one bit.

The moment that strange girl had shown up…the moment his eyes had crossed with hers…

It was as if every single cell on his body was shouting and shaking with relief and joy, motivating him to go forward, to embrace the stranger and melt into her arms, to assure him that everything would be well once he did so, that he would be safe…

However, his actual mind was horrified by this. Beyond the fact that the sensation creeped him out on all levels at being caused by a stranger, even if she was a pretty girl, there was the fact that his common sense was screaming at him that he and everyone around him were in terrible danger, that he would truly regret it if he didn't grab Sugu and Asuna and ran away as fast as he could.

And then, there were the most obvious things that he could see with his eyes and process with his brain.

Her eyes…they were _like his_. Like his 'true' eyes. And…she had called him…

"Kazuto-kun!" shouted Asuna once she saw him fall to his knees and look as if he was going to throw up; ignoring the girl whose mere presence was terrifying her to the core to check up on him. "What's wrong?! What did she do to you?!"

"Can't…no…shouldn't be…Waryum-jii never said…not only me…?"

"What's wrong, brother? I don't understand…why aren't you rushing to my side? Why aren't you filled with the same joy that I am?" wondered aloud the white-haired 'girl' while idly putting a sinisterly 'shifting' hand under her chin. "Perhaps it's been so long that you can't recognize me in this pathetic form despite our bond? It's me. Your other half. I know you can feel it, can't you? I'm called Mirai now…a name is certainly something charming…did that bug say yours was 'Kazuto' now? Curious, if very simple-sounding…"

For all answer, the black-haired boy screamed as if in pain, holding his head while black tendrils tore out of his back and whipped the air frantically, making the chestnut-haired girl squeak and take a step back.

"Kazuto! Ha-hang in there!" cried Suguha while kneeling down at his side without hesitation and holding him, ignoring the black alien tentacles that could have easily broken her effortlessly as if they didn't exist. "Don't worry Onii-chan, we're here for…!"

"What did you just say?"

The change in tone was so brutal that it nearly made the young kendoka's heart stop. Suddenly, the 'foreign pressure' that had been surrounding them was fully focused on her, what had been so easy to ignore for her distorted mind suddenly being like the invisible jaws of an unstoppable force about to devour her.

Looking up, she saw Mirai was now fully looking at her, the nonchalant curiosity and simple cheer of before replaced by a completely blank face and a dreadful feeling hidden within her eyes.

"Wha…?"

"Just now. How did you just call him?"

"…Onii-chan?" answered the girl weakly, almost against her will.

A lifetime of training kendo to national level. Growing up with her big brother as an alien abomination. Knowing that the world was a weird and bizarre place more than almost any other human on the planet and taking it in stride.

That was all that saved Kirigaya Suguha's life, her instincts screaming at her in time to make her roll and jump to the side.

A long and teeth/spike-filed tendril still pierced her just below her hips, though, literarily tearing through her body as if it was paper and separating her right leg from her body with a horrifying munching sound.

Blood exploded everywhere, some of it drenching Kazuto's shaking form as his entire self SNAPPED and his gaze shot up.

 **"How dare you call MY brother as if you could ever be related to him, you lowly bug?"** spoke Mirai with a completely inhuman voice, through the countless eyes-surrounded mouths filling the tentacle finishing to chew through the bit of the human's leg.

Asuna screamed in horror. The young kendoka fell into the sand and started to scream in agony, all but starting to convulse in place. Another tendril shot out, this one aimed at the chestnut-haired girl's head, as casually as a person would crush an annoying mosquito…

And then a sound SO brutal it took even Mirai by surprise exploded from the depths of the humanized alien experiment's being, and the full form of the Lusus Naturae exploded forward, slamming the white-haired inhuman away with the force of an angry stampede, making sand fly everywhere as he shielded his little sister and his savior with his body.

Asuna took several deep breaths, staring up in shock. After all, it was the first time she saw the 'true form' of the boy she had fallen for, even if it had been described to her a couple times, and a part of her couldn't help but shiver before the truck-sized abomination.

It lasted as long as it took to see the many eyes closest to her were staring up and down around her with a worry like she had never seen before, the amount of feeling (Fear, hurt, worry, apprehension, love…) within them making even their alien colors and shape seem like the most honestly human thing she had ever seen.

Then, she was already moving, stopping at Suguha's side and cradling the young girl against her chest, trying to calm the screaming and sobbing kendoka down while a few tendrils shot from her adopted brother's bulk and closed around the bloody stump of flesh and bone where her leg had been, others moving to drag the fallen limb back to them…

A sound the Yuuki Heiress' mind wasn't able to describe, something that was neither a scream nor a roar, filled with a feeling she couldn't put into human words, dragged their attention back as their attacker stood back up…in a truly bizarre way.

Mirai's neck seemed to have snapped and most of her 'human' limbs twisted in ways they shouldn't, but none of it seemed to matter. She stood now in the dozens of tendrils that had grown from her body, keeping the 'human body' up as if it was nothing more than a flesh puppet, staring at them…no, at Kazuto only, with a gaze that none of them could decipher.

 **"You…you hit me. You _attacked_ me."** mumbled the abomination while its entire self shook, emotions 'she' clearly didn't fully understand, a product of the human DNA Tryum tech had accidentally forced upon her body, consuming her being. **"WHY?!"**

 **"You just tried to kill my sister and the girl I owe my life to! Two of the people I care about the most in the world! Two of the girls I love!** " snarled the Lusus Naturae with barely restrained rage, through every single mouth in his body, even as Asuna found she could blush from the words of a giant monster while looking at him using his tentacles to stitch his little sister's leg back together. **"Why the hell do you think?!"**

 **"But I'm your sister! Those are just…humans! Bugs! Hairless apes! They're nothing to us!"** screamed the white-haired girl while her tendrils whipped against the sand repeatedly. **"Why do you talk as if…as if they were equal to you?! As if you actually cared for them?!"**

 **"Because I do! As far as I'm concerned, I'm a human too!"** replied Kazuto with a roar so beastly his tendrils flashed against the sand almost by instinct, making the other alien abomination rear back. **"And I don't know who or what you are, but on that same vein, you're NO sister of mine!"**

For a moment, everything was silent, Mirai's body seemingly frozen at the declaration.

Then, an unholy sound no one present could put a name to literally exploding from deep within her, just as the alien experiment finished stitching his adoptive sister's leg back to her body, making both humans present fall to their knees, covering their ears from the pain and unknown emotions the eldritch sound caused.

Deciding he wouldn't wait until she tried to hurt them again, the Lusus Naturae roared and shot forward, aiming to crush her, pin her down so that she couldn't hurt anyone and…!

And she stopped him effortlessly, _tentacles bursting from her tentacles_ until she had more than him, holding him in place as if he was a toddler.

Asuna and Suguha weren't as shocked as he was, finding himself unable to move. Never before in his life could he recall having been overpowered by anything, unlike most normal children would, so the experience was…more than frightening.

 **"How…?!"**

 **"To even think you could actually just push me aside…oh, my dear brother, how much have they corrupted you? How far have they ruined you?"** cried Mirai with what seemed true sadness, only making the gesture and the way tears fell from her upside-down human face to seem even creepier for Kazuto. **"Don't worry, though…I will fix it."**

Then, the alien experiment found himself weightless, before realizing he was actually being lifted up…and then thrown away as if he was a rock launched by a particularly strong adult, rolling over the sand with thunderous force, screeching in utter shock.

When he finally came to a stop, he barely had time to regain his senses before hearing the girls screaming his name, just in time for something to pin him down again with brutal force.

The abomination disguised as a girl hung over him, her tendrils keeping him pinned and barely able to squirm as her many eyes looked at him with pity and longing, his growls and shouts seeming to make her shiver.

Frustrated, enraged and, as much as he wouldn't accept it, scared like never before, Kazuto roared and spit raw plasma on her, the burning energy overheating the sand around them and crystallizing it in seconds.

Mirai stood still over him, undeterred, what remained of her human clothes gone and some smoke rising from her body and what little normal skin that part still had, but otherwise looking as if nothing had happened.

 **"Ho-how…are you…so strong…?"**

 **"You truly have forgotten, haven't you, my dear brother?"** mumbled the abomination while closing her charred human's face to the Lusus Naturae's head, making him recoil in unusual terror. **"About us, about our time together…or how while you're the jewel that shines brighter, I'm the fang that was sharpened on everything that gave you light."**

 **"What…what does that mean…?"** coughed Kazuto before vague and half-blurred images shot through his mind.

All of them showing an immense abomination towering protectively over him. All of them showing it fighting and besting countless other creatures and monsters without care for her own self. And all of them showing her feeding him the remains.

Dawning horror mixed with realization finally showed up in his many eyes, even as Mirai slowly shifted over him.

 **"Ah, I see that you get it now, right? Everything that you are, everything that you can do, all the things that make you what you have become now…I killed all of them before. I bested all of them before feeding them to you."** as she spoke those words, the girl's twisted form tightened around her brother, making him scream and start thrashing around, unable to free himself. **"I'm so much stronger than you it's not even funny, because I had to get that far in order to protect you. How sad, that now I must use that strength to hurt you so that you recover your sen…"**

"Don't touch Kirito!"

"Leave him be, you bitch!"

Twin shouts broke through the night as one, Mirai's awareness returning to something beyond her brother just in time for a blade of black bone and a kick of brutal strength to slam against the back of her main body, destroying her balance.

That was more than enough for Kazuto to roar and throw her off himself, the Lusus Naturae quickly spinning back to his 'feet' as he looked back to see the panting/surprised forms of Yuuki and Akane, both girls seemingly surprised as their opponent spun around and back to her feet, furious and basically unharmed.

"Tha-that didn't do anything?!" shouted the leader of the Sleeping Knights with shock, clearly taken aback. "I-I wasn't even holding back! What is she?!"

"I don't care! She hurt Kirito, so she's going down!" replied the hybrid with probably the best reflexes on Earth before she leaped forward, dodging Mirai's tendrils in midair with a mix of insane reaction time and the black bones sprouting from her body like demented roots, finally getting up close to the abomination's human 'face' and stabbing through it with her bone-blade. "HYA! How do you like that?!"

 **"…what is this?"** as she spoke those three words, the terrible abomination simply 'shrugged' with brutal force, sending a screaming Yuuki flying away even as 'her' eyes moved once again towards the panting Kazuto. **"Dear brother…what sort of joke is this supposed to be? Why do these bugs…have pieces of our precious essence?"**

 **"Yuuki-chan!"** screamed the Lusus Naturae before his tendrils shot out and caught the young girl in midair (Which made her release a weird sound he dismissed right away), quickly dragging her back to his side and letting her before Asuna and Suguha. **"Get out of here! You too, Akane-san, and take Sugu and Asuna with you! She's too strong!"**

"Ki-Kirito…"

"Then all the more reason to not leave you alone with it!" came another shout as countless spikes of black bone shot through the air like a rain of spikes, many targeting Mirai's eyes and making the alien abomination scream, even as Aiko landed near her guild leader with a ferocious scowl. "Nobody hurts Yuu and gets away with it!"

"You heard our second in command, guys! Sleeping Knights, protect everyone and surround that thing!" declared Si-eun as she landed behind the two fighting-ready girls, cursing herself and trying to remember both that this was not a virtual game and the abomination in front of them was probably deadlier and more dangerous than anything they had ever faced there.

Of course, there was also the fact that it seemed hell-bent on doing something horrible to Kazuto and/or killing anyone who tried to stop it, so even as her friends (Or second family, as she had thought of them as for a long time) surrounded 'her', she took a deep breath and let the worries of An Si-eun fade, to be replaced by the calm and understanding determination of 'Siune'.

 **"So many…why, brother? Let me understand…are they pets? You thought it would be amusing to mix part of your core with these bugs to see what they would make?"** mumbled Mirai with an almost vacant tone as she looked at the grim-faced Sleeping Knights. **"Please, tell me that's just it…don't make me accept what I see…that your mind is so twisted you consider these biological stains as your equals…"**

 **"You're sick, Mirai. And they're my friends!"** growled Kazuto while his tendrils lashed around, forming a half-wall between his body, Mirai, and the girls. **"If you can't even understand that concept, then we will never understand each other."**

 **"Friends…? What is that?"** wondered the alien abomination while looking at the Lusus Naturae what remained of her charred and broken human face slowly twisting into a despairing rage. **"What need could you possibly have of something like 'friends' when you have m…?!"**

Something slammed against that same disfigured face, exploding into a cloud of dark smoke. Screaming with a thousand unholy voices, Mirai started 'coughing' in a very bizarre way.

 **"GAH! What…?!"**

"Direct hit! Now, Keiko!"

"HAI!" squeaked another familiar voice before yet another of the round objects flew true, hitting the first cloud and releasing a second one, this one grayish, which mixed with the first and made the abomination's screams to intensify. "I-I did it, Shi…I mean, boss! All that ball-throwing practice playing with Pina paid off!"

"Meow."

"Shi-Shino-san?! Silica-chan?!" screamed Asuna in shock at seeing the bespectacled and twin-tailed girls having arrived at the scene at some point, both looking out of breath but ready. "What…?"

"There is no time, Aa-chan!" declared Shiori as she also showed up, helping her and the stunned Suguha to their feet while Yuuki looked at them in surprise. "We need to get moving, now!"

"KIRITO!" screamed Shino while pointing towards the twitching Mirai, surprising the Lusus Naturae as all his eyes fixed on her. "Her senses are all wrong because she's not used to using human ones! ATTACK THAT!"

Barely a second of hesitation was needed for Kazuto to understand what his alien-obsessed friend meant. Then, a grin split all his mouths as he released a focused sonic-scream towards Mirai's twisted 'human' body, his 'sister' screaming louder as her entire self started to spasm wildly, her tendrils lashing out without any control.

Asada Shino was right, after all. With all her overwhelming power, resistances and immunities, there were little things on Earth that could hurt X-K0941.

The human DNA she had forcibly absorbed through Tryum tech to try and blend in, though? THAT was something she had never had to deal with. And while her own inhuman nature overwrote almost every single physical weakness that could involve…it didn't do the same for her senses.

By having, for some reason, kept that vague human shape on her core all this time, she had also kept the organs that let a human see, hear and even smell. Which could be easily disturbed to quite painful extremes with the right mixes, like the bespectacled girl had apparently prepared together with her young 'assistant' for reasons normal people would probably prefer not to think about. And that against the nauseous onslaught of twisted sound that her 'brother' was unleashing against her, it was completely vulnerable, affecting even the parts of her that were clearly not human in nature at all, because she had not abandoned the human shape on her core.

Leaving her exposed to…

"Sleeping Knights, pin down those tentacles, now! Argo-san, get them out of here! Who knows how long what Kirito is doing will help!"

"Way ahead of you, Merida!" shouted back Shiori as she dragged the half-unwilling girls away, who kept looking back the screaming Lusus Naturae. "Girls, I'm worried about him too, but let's be real, we can't help him in here, we're more of a burden! Let the aliens and alien hybrids deal with the crazy alien yandere, we need to get out of…Yuuna?!"

"Ka-Kazuto…" panted the songstress as she stopped near the boy, seeing several of his eyes looking at her in shock, even as the Sleeping Knights raged war against the lashing tentacles of Mirai, pinning them down one by one in ways that seemed reserved for some hardcore gore movie. "You're okay…thank the Heavens, when I heard you scream, I thought…"

 **"Yuuna-chan…get out of here!"** whispered one of the mouths closest to her with clear worry. **"You're in danger and…uhm…m-my real form is scary…"**

"Your real…?" trailing off, the brown-haired girl blinked and looked up, finally seeming to realize she was, indeed, staring at a truck-sized monster with eyes and mouths where they shouldn't be and countless tentacles trying to create a wall around her, unleashing a scream of raw power against another abomination while the mutated hybrids he had created/saved tried to cut/crush/impale all her own tentacles, all the while trying to not get hit by their alien friend's attack. "Oh…guess I have become very messed up too."

 **"Yuuna…?"**

"It's nothing…Kazuto. I think I just realized it…but, I really do love you." whispered Yuuna before kneeling and, with a small smile, planting a kiss just above the mouth that had been talking to her, her lips connecting with the black and twisted flesh, even as the many eyes around it widened with shock.

She felt no revulsion from it. Just…happiness

And it was that single gesture…what made _her_ snap.

Not Yuuki and Aiko impaling the last of her tentacles with sharp bones into the sand so deeply they would need to be torn apart to get free. Nor Siune and Nobu slamming her spasms-riddled main body into the ground so hard most of its main frame cracked. Not even how a relatively large van did a very bad drift over the sand and opened its side-doors just before the open-mouthed forms of Shiori, Asuna and Suguha revealing a stunned Rika and Kayaba at the wheel.

It was seeing that human girl doing that ( _Kissing_ , her mind supplied) to her dear brother with what remained of her functional eyes that made something within the being now calling itself, herself, 'Mirai' to lash out. A burning mix of emotions that she had never felt to such a degree overcoming her.

Rage. Hate. And, completely new and alien to her… _jealousy_.

In a simple, clarity-focused moment among the twister of pain and confusion she had become, a new, extremely thin and long tendril lashed out of her body with the speed of a bullet.

It tore through Shigemura Yuuna's neck from side to side, her previous happy smile freezing on her face as blood stained it, her shirt, and several of Kazuto's eyes.

He tentacle was severed a second later, by a bone-blade all but shot by a horrified Aiko. The idol-wannabe's body fell limply to the side, eyes wide open, tendril still piercing through her.

The sonic onslaught ceased abruptly as the Lusus Naturae just stopped moving, his mind having gone blank. From a second to the next, the Sleeping Knights found themselves being thrown from the brink of victory to a total defeat, Mirai's mangled form throwing them all way like ragdolls now that her senses weren't being endlessly bombarded, though she clearly struggled to move and get back to her 'feet', seeming barely able to hold herself together, her body no longer regenerating.

Kirigaya Kazuto ignored all of that, though. In that single moment…his entire existence was focused on the unmoving form of the brown-haired girl beside him, the one that had just told him how she loved everything of him, the one he loved dearly, his first real friend outside his beloved little sister…

Every single memory stored in his DNA that contained the challenging, smiling form of Shigemura Yuuna shot through his mind in an instant. Then, all of them BURNED, consumed by the sight of her unmoving body before him.

Wrong.

So wrong.

That was wrong.

Yuuna couldn't be…nothing could have…no…no…

 _Nononononononono…!_

 **NO!**

 ** _(NO!)_**

 **"What is it?"**

Time stood still, turning around, Kirigaya Kazuto stared at…himself.

No, that wasn't right. He was standing there, sure, but that was his…'real' form. The monster. The 'failed' experiment the Tryums had called X-K0940.

The one standing, he 'himself' right now was the human shape…the one he personally considered his true one.

"Yu…Yuuna-chan…my Yuuna…she…Mirai…NO!" screamed the black-haired boy while falling to his knees, tears streaming down his face as he shook and tried to contain endless sobs. "Is…is this my fault…? Is it?"

 **"…yes. It is."** mercilessly replied the Lusus Naturae, its countless eyes fixed upon the crying child. "But it's also hers. And Mirai's. And everything else's."

"Wha-what…?"

 **"Life that is not us has no control over itself. Chaotic. Fleeting. But here…we're harmony. Together…we can fix everything."** mumbled the towering beast while looking down upon the sobbing child. **"Hear…can't you hear them?"**

"Hear…?"

Falling silent, Kazuto listened.

There, deep within himself. Like the beating of a heart. No, like drums beating an endless rhythm.

No…like the terrifying waves on an enraged ocean.

'Let us out'. Let us out, it chanted endlessly.

Not voices, no. That would imply words. The concept of a talked language.

These were intents. A concept forced upon Reality, from the back of his mind, from the very depths of himself.

'Let us out'.

 _'Hunger'._

'C0o0n0s0u0m0e0e0v0er0y0t0h0i0n0g0'.

 **'*Fix*everything*'.**

"Fix…everything…" mumbled Kazuto with unfocused eyes. "We can…fix it…even Yuuna?"

"We can." Answered the Lusus Naturae, before something metalized beside it. A familiar bird…a crow.

 _'We can'_ it cawed, intent being transmitted where sound didn't matter.

A strange creature the boy had no name for followed, long and think, with wings that were vaguely familiar…

-We-Can-

A 'tree' of flesh that seemed out of some madman's nightmares…

+…wE cAn…+

A blind 'dragon'-like beast which could breathe out raw plasma, vaguely familiar too…

"W()E()C()A()N!"

More and more, they rose from the darkness. Plants, beasts…things he had no name to, things he could vaguely describe. Smaller than his fingers, taller than buildings, of all kinds, shapes, sizes, all rising from the dark…no.

That was no darkness.

As if his eyes had finally opened, he realized it. That was just a sea of flesh and blood, from where they all kept rising, like plants growing from the soil.

Like in his old half-forgotten nightmares. Because…because this wasn't a sea of flesh and blood. It was HIM.

This was him. And these things, all 'talking', no, all chanting the same thought over and over…they were him too. They were all the beings he had consumed, in that life he could not truly recall, before becoming who he was now.

This was what he REALLY was. This was his true nature.

His fragmented soul…was like that because it wasn't really one. It was just made up of countless fragments of **theirs**.

"…we can." sentenced Kazuto and, suddenly, all the beings fell silent, the flesh and blood ocean bubbling harshly. "We…can."

 **(YES…WE DO)**

Kirigaya Kazuto sank into the sea of flesh, becoming just a part of the whole, a cog in the machine…giving into the ravenous instincts within.

Like he had always been meant to do.

Within the red ocean…a massive eye opened.

("Then…let us forget the pain…")

Time resumed. Screams had just started, Suguha crying out for Yuuna's name as the others restrained her with terrified faces, Shino urging a horrified Keiko to move while Pina dragged them back, the Sleeping Knights starting to get up while Mirai started saying something…

A 'sound' that destroyed the night in a terribly disturbing way silenced everything else, everyone's heads feelings as if they would split apart. Agony, rage, hate, pain, suffering…then nothing but just a primal, ancient and wordless scream, exploding from the depths of Kazuto…no, of the creature known as X-K0940.

His eyes dilated and his flesh bubbled in a terribly painful-looking way. Hunching, his back seemed to painfully 'split' and grow, even as its 'arms' shot forward like rubbery missiles, twisting as its claws expanded and then solidified, new joints, way too many for a creature using a complex skeleton (At least following Earth's biology) clearly manifesting on the limbs.

He…IT grew a new pair, even as its size finished doubling, even as the many lower tendrils stopped tying themselves together and became some unholy amalgamation between arms and legs to act as rear limbs, lifting the massive mass of the horror upwards.

The tentacles all over its back warped, turning longer and deadlier-looking, now seeming like massive and thick cords of raw muscle rather than the disturbingly soft and gentle (Yuuki and Suguha's words) limbs they used to be, teeth and spikes growing all over them even as the eyes on them shrunk and the mouths receded to more 'useful' places.

A massive maw opened on the chest, surrounded by smaller ones, even as the 'head' reared backwards, now longer and rounder, somehow more humanoid than before yet seeming a thousand time less human for it, possessing no clear mouth as countless of them opened all over it and its massive eye seemed to narrow, no remains of human intelligence visible there.

The claws finished solidifying…to show how now all 'fingers' were tipped with HEADS instead, horribly twisted and fused faces of creatures man could put no name to put all together, drooling and snarling over each other, some with sharp teeth, some releasing strange fumes and some simply throwing up burning blood constantly.

Horror and shock was the first thing filling everyone's minds as the abomination of nature rose, a being that Earth, no, that the whole galaxy couldn't accept existed staring in every direction with its mindless, animalistic eyes.

Then, it ROARED, a sound that made sand explode everywhere and threw everyone but Mirai and those within the van flying away out of its sheer depth.

Birds in the sky froze and fell, crashing down bonelessly. Fishes in the sea swam faster, heading towards the beach and jumping into the sand to their deaths, mindless of everything but obeying the roar. Animals in the forest surrounding the area followed cue, most of them simply standing at the edge of the human-inhabited zone.

And, of course, people all around shot out of their homes in horror, looking around in fear before freezing or screaming while pointing towards the beach, at the terrifying THING standing there, now visible from the entire area.

The Lusus Naturae fell silent, staring down at its 'sister'.

She stared back, what little features remained on her seeming…ecstatic, at the sight.

Just then, a Tryum pod flew down and crashed not far from her, the thing shaking and writhing as what was within reacted, tendrils of black flesh exploding and breaking the thing before it could open, reaching into the 'girl' and connecting back to her, a moan of relief escaping the one calling herself 'Mirai'.

 **"Yes…look at you now, brother. This…this is you. The real you that these insects buried with their naivety. That the many-eyed fools failed to see…"** whispered the older abomination as her body bloated and surged outwards in every direction, expanding, discarding the previous temporary form in favor of her true one.

Once, it may have looked like Kazuto's previous one did. Now, however, it was just a massive mass of flesh, eyes, and teeth, tentacle-like limbs expanding in almost every direction, almost twice as big as the new form of the Lusus Naturae was, the titanic cords of flesh that 8 massive tentacles were being apparently her main way of moving as she looked down on her sibling with something akin to very alien 'love'.

It was just bizarre and more terrifying for anyone sane enough to stare. X-K0949 answered by screeching that unholy sound away, jumping towards her and making the area shake as he tore into her massive body with animalistic fury, black blood falling everywhere as he clawed, mauled, bit and destroyed as fast as he could.

Mirai accepted all of it without even flinching, her tendrils 'lovingly' caressing the smaller abomination before throwing him off with a flicker, the colossal thing that had been Kazuto flying into the sea…and stopping, countless 'wings' having sprouted from his tentacles and keeping him in the air, almost seeming to dangle from them like a puppet of nightmare hanging from very macabre strings.

It roared again. Regenerating, its sibling released what could be counted as a chuckle.

"…Onii-chan…" cried Suguha while ignoring the pain crashing on the van's insides had caused her, staring at the Lusus Naturae's mindless and mutated form with soul-searing pain.

 **"Yes…that's it. Show me more, brother…and soon, you will finally fulfill our destiny, what all this time suffering under the stars has brought for us…"**

A sister cried while another darkly rejoiced. Many people, human and not-so-much, stared with mixed horror, sadness, and powerlessness-induced frustration. Normal people watching knew nothing but horror and fear.

And Somewhere within the Cosmos…stars that were not stars started bleeding, even as X-K0940 and X-K0941 clashed again…

* * *

 _"Pretend to be everything you are not(…). You cannot change. You will always be…a monster."_ – Athena (Most annoying God-Spirit ever).

* * *

The special team that had entered the apartment complex within Tokyo had been ready for anything. From armed resistance to bizarrely unexpected circumstances, they had been briefed that anything could happen.

That a strange contraption made of kitchen utensils and other mundane things suddenly threw wires forward and made one of them fall backward and roll downstairs quite painfully, though, all of them paused, blinking at the scene and then looking at each other, seeing more of those haphazardly put 'traps' all over the stairs.

"You will never catch me alive, humans!" the words of Waryum the Tryum echoed from somewhere upstairs. "I have watched all those American movies about the little kid left home alone and the burglars! Thanks to that and my own resourcefulness, I have booby-trapped the entirety of the stairs! None of you are going to get even close to…!"

The sound of gunfire silenced the alien's words just as the deadpanning man at the front shot down the several 'traps' lining the stairway they were in, blowing them to pieces or uselessly triggering all of them.

Awkward silence ensued, followed by cursing and the sound of way too many feet for a normal person scurrying upstairs.

"…lieutenant Kikuoka? Squad Leader 1 reporting here."

"SL1, what happened?! We just heard shots! Is everyone okay?!" came Kikuoka Seijirou's voice through the official's helmet's speakers.

"Yes, we're all fine, just…ran into something we weren't really expecting."

"What was it?! Hostages? Illegal experiments?! Some macabre…?"

"The weird cosplayer…I mean, the main target booby-trapped the stairs using kitchen utensils and similar office things."

"…what?"

"Also, he apparently got inspired by an American movie to do so. AND he was close enough to clearly hear us doing so and keep an eye on things instead of hiding somewhere."

"…I…see." mumbled the bespectacled man while wondering if he had somehow heard wrong, before sighing and trying to put on a serious face again. "Re-regardless, he may have been trying to misdirect you all, so don't lower your guard just in case and proceed."

"Roger that, lieute…oh, c'mon Hanzo, seriously?! How did you trigger that without seeing it?! Now you have…is that ice cream? All over your helmet!"

Near the last floor, Waryum cursed as he once again failed to make a call, closing his phone while tightening the grip on his laptop and damming the fact of not having accompanied everyone on that stupid beach resort trip.

Of course none of them would have their phones on hand somewhere like that! Hell, even if they were already on their way back, most of them would be asleep or maybe even have left the devices silenced. And he didn't have Kayaba Akihiko's number, just his fucking luck, because he had never seen the need of talking to the man himself, just through Kazuto.

Essentially, he was alone, faced with unknown armed opponents, with no resources and no Tryum tech at his disposal. And seeing how his attempt at 'repelling' them before had gone, he may as well surrender and let himself be caught right now…

"No, what the hell am I thinking?!" growled the alien scientist while glaring at the wall, quickly rushing up the building's last set of stairs. "If they catch me they will find a way to catch the Sleeping Knights too, hell, maybe find out where Kazuto is! For their sake and for the security of this planet, I can't let them…"

As soon as he arrived at the building's rooftop, the Tryum stopped his words, watching wide-eyed how many lights were shining from down below at the edge of it. In fact, one of them was moving dangerously close to…

Closing the door again, Waryum moved downstairs and into the first apartment he found, one of the empty ones, cursing upon hearing the clear sound of the soldiers, officers, terrorists or whatever they were coming upstairs, seemingly no longer feeling threatened by the minor tricks he had put.

Out of options and knowing he had no time, the alien looked all around, seeing nothing but the main window…and stopped, staring back at it.

When the main squad entered 10 seconds later…they found the window wide open and no sign of their target, making them exchange confused looks…until their helmets beeped, the squad leader reaching for the communicator to…

"Red Alert! Everyone, the target's priority has changed!"

"Wha-what? Why?!"

"Because…that's clearly not a fucking cosplay!"

"This is…the most stupid thing…I have done since…coming to this planet…" growled Waryum as he used all his legs to basically run over the side of the building like some demented spider, denting the walls and leaving them clearly marked as he slid and almost fell off several times.

The Tryum didn't even care that now there was clearly a light focused on him and that shouts all around were intensifying, as well as what seemed the sounds of someone shooting a…

Waryum was barely able to hold back a scream when a bullet tore through one of his arms, clearly courtesy of a sniper, the alien letting go of his phone and cursing as he continued 'running', sliding down faster, aiming higher even as he almost felt himself being aimed at again…and then he jumped, as far as his legs could carry him.

Painfully rolling all over himself and feeling several of his bones cracking, idly aware of the sound of a bullet missing him on the background, the Tryum gasped in shock as he shakily stood up, still holding his mostly ruined laptop and barely able to believe he had actually landed on the roof of a neighboring building, before stumbling forward and heading for the door that led into the…

Said door burst open, several armed men emerging and aiming their weapons at the suddenly frozen alien, making him slowly raise his arms in the air as his eyes narrowed.

Around a minute later, Seijirou Kikuoka stepped into the rooftop, his eyes hidden behind his glasses as the light made them seem unreflective for a moment as they roamed over the clear injuries and slight bleeding of Waryum's body.

"Fascinating…I was expecting many things, but…nothing as _bizarre_ as this, I admit." confessed the government officer with a wry smile before looking straight into the Tryum's many eyes. "Waryum, was it? I'm assuming now that it's not just a nickname, Mr…alien?"

"It is indeed my real name, human. Third-rate Scientist of Tryum-Delta's Outpost #5678880, Waryum." growled the alien while trying to think of a way to escape and coming up with none. "Any special reason for rushing into my home and trying to kill me?"

"You know, for an alien creature not only do you talk a very good Japanese, you also seem very human when talking." offhandedly commented Kikuoka while calmly walking closer to Waryum, though still maintaining a prudent distant and keeping himself out most of his men's line of fire (Showing he wasn't an idiot, much to the trapped one's chagrin). "I'm sure there is an interesting story there, just like it should be behind the fact that several terminally ill people, some of them underage, that were kidnapped from their hospitals not long ago are living with you and seemingly in perfect health, but that's something we will discuss at a 'less public' location, if you don't mind."

"And they call us Tryum self-centered…don't think I didn't notice that you dodged answering my question during your whole monologue, Mr. Glasses." dryly replied the Tryum while trying not to show how he was mentally panicking, realizing he had to find a way to tell Kazuto that the Sleeping Knights couldn't come back there by any circumstances and that they had been compromised, at least partially. "And the humans aren't here, as you can see. In fact, they're not coming back: The moment your 'attack' started I warned them not to."

"…I see. That's certainly a shame, but I'm sure you will be more than enough to get the answers we need, Waryum-san." finally declared the man with a cold tone, making it clear he was in no mood for more games and more than aware of the situation's full seriousness, even as he gave his back to the glaring alien. "Restrain and bring him with us. If he tries anything, you're authorized to knock him out or taking more…extreme measures, depending on the situation."

"Affirmative!"

Seeing how the men closed on him, Waryum realized that this was it. Even if he ran and let himself be shot to pretend being dead, they would still take his 'corpse' with them, pain aside, and realize he wasn't sooner or later or outright burn/destroy him before he could regenerate enough to move again. In any case, he would end up in a situation where he couldn't even warn the others of these guys and…!

A sudden and deafening sound made every human present scream and fall to their knees, energy failing all around them as the lights of not only their equipment but also the entire city block flickered.

Barely even having time to blink in shock, the Tryum watched as the air around him distorted in a vaguely familiar way before his body dematerialized, leaving only confusion and shouts behind, even as Kikuoka stood up and screamed for all the agents present to secure the perimeter and find where he had gone.

Of course, there was no way for any of them to see the invisible ship floating a couple hundred meters above the apartment building they had just raided, nor how it sped away into the heavens barely seconds later. Within it, the third-rate researched groaned, standing up wobbly and then looking around in shock at the many other Tryums giving him side-glances within the bridge, some with curiosity, others with annoyances and a few ones with cheer at their apparent successful rescue.

"Well, well, that was a close one, wouldn't you say, Waryum?" came a familiar and not-so-welcome voice, Waryum barely resisted the urge to groan as he turned around and saw Ubom and Grotek walking towards him. "Welcome to our ship. You're welcome for the rescue, by the way, though I don't even want to think how embarrassing it would have been to report we let one of our own be caught by humans, of all things, when we were just around the…"

"Forget that! Did you receive my earlier message?!" all but screamed the Earth-living Tryum while rushing and holding the first of the High Researchers by the shoulder, ignoring the pain on his right arm even as everyone stared at him in shock. "Did you call X-K0941 back?!"

"What?! N-no, of course we didn't! Do you know how many strings we had to pull just to get her off-planet and then come all the way here just to recover him?!" retorted Grotek while trying to separate the injured researcher from his partner, clearly confused and annoyed. "And you have a lot of things to explain regarding that, by the way! Like how the hell did you let him escape but apparently have been keeping an eye on him for so long and why are we detecting several unsupervised signals of his DNA in humans that…!"

"FUCK!" screamed Waryum without any subtlety while all but throwing Ubom on his fellow High Researcher, many in the bridge seeming alarmed at the violent and clearly unstable attitude of their fellow Tryum, wondering if so much time on Earth had messed up something on his brain. "You don't get it, do you?! You may have just doomed the entire world if those two make con…!"

"Hi-High Researchers, one of the humans that were aiding/being protected by X-K0940 was critically injured by 941!" shouted Pibap from where he was manning a console, the technician looking clearly panicked. "The unknown hybrids attacks have ceased and 940 has stopped moving, but…"

"What?! They're engaged in combat?! Against everyone?!" without waiting for authorization and ignoring all protocols, Waryum rushed towards the console where his fellow low-rank Tryum had spoken from, all of his eyes widening in horror at the scene that was now being projected on it. "Yu-Yuuna-san…no…"

"You…know those humans by name?" asked Grotek with clear confusion while his partner tried to stand again, clearly not used to being manhandled like this. "Waryum, I don't get it, what the fuck is going…?"

A sound that made all the aliens present in the bridge freeze as their hearts suddenly accelerated came from all the speakers at once, some swearing they could actually hear it all the way out there in the ship. At once, all gazes shot towards the main screen, which was now projecting the confrontation…and the terrifying and world-shaking mutation taking place on it, all kinds of warnings and smaller screens appearing while red alerts filled many consoles.

 _"(Biological Threat Level Epsilon…Biological Threat Level Sigma…Biological Threat Level Omega 1…)"_

"…Fate above Everything…" muttered Ubom as he found his voice, even as the console kept updating on the increasing threat. "What…in the Universe…?"

"Kazuto…Gods…" whispered Waryum even as the abomination on the beach released an unholy sound no one could put a name to. "…we're all doomed…"

"Po-pod with the rest of X-K0941's biomass just arrived!" shouted Pibap with clear panic, his hands running over the controls before him. "Ma-maybe she can contain him before…!"

Mirai's following words were more than enough for the Earth-inhabiting Tryum to realize what no one else had until that point. That there was no hope left for them.

The fact that the pod was breached from the inside out, that 'Error' alerts started filling all the screens that ran the experiment's Programmed Protocol, as if it was 'dissolving' from her very DNA, and then how the older sister warped into her abominable 'Titan Form' were enough to make the rest of the stupefied Tryums to realize it too, however. And that before one of her tentacles casually swatted the two bio-drones that had been monitoring her while invisible, destroying one of them and making the other crash onto the sand, too damaged to move and barely still showing the image of the monstrous 'fight', even as the abomination welcomed her little brother's murderous and mindless rage like a lover would an embrace.

 _"(_ _…_ _Biological Threat Level Omega X. Warning, Planetary Evacuation considered unsafe at this point, Planetary Purge strongly suggested…)"_

All the 'creators' of the freaks of nature could do was sit and watch in silence, powerless and useless…

* * *

 _"And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done."_ – Genesis 2:2-3 (Not everyone deserves resting after creating something, though…)

* * *

 **(Destroy.)**

The earth was torn asunder, sand exploding and flying everywhere, even rocks sometimes from how deep their clash went.

 **(Assimilate.)**

Sounds that man was never meant to hear filled the air, screeches, roars, wails and, most terrifying, distorted and monstrous laughter, even as the two abominations of nature, one raised on Earth and another on the harshness of the stars and the solitude of Tryum-Delta, clashed in a feral dance.

 **(DEVOUR...)**

When all of that was taken into account, the man running through the sand absurdly close to the fighting titans of nightmare may have been called insane, but in reality, Kayaba Akihiko thought this was one of the sanest things he had done in recent years.

While he would have argued back then that his plans with SAO before he met Kirigaya Kazuto weren't truly the designs of a madman, he was sure the world at large wouldn't have agreed with them at all.

Running near two fighting alien experiments to reach, grab and run away with the unmoving body of the girl he had come to see as a niece, though? Yeah, he was pretty sure much more people would be way more understanding about such an act, nor that he really cared for said opinions in this matter.

But even as he ran while cradling Yuuna's body as far as his burning legs, more used to lab work than to physical activity, allowed him, he couldn't help but glance back as the nightmarish Earth-raised monster slammed down like a missile on the one that had come from the stars, causing only more laughter in answer to his beastly roars even as 'Mirai' threw him back as if he was a naughty child playing around, the earth shaking once again as the Lusus Naturae rolled back to its feet and took flight once again, like a beast that knew nothing but instinctual violence.

"Kazuto…"

"Kayaba-san, here!" shouted Si-eun as the van everyone had boarded moved closer and the man quickly rushed towards its side, all but jumping into the vehicle as it kept moving, away from the madness and chaos. "Are you okay?!"

"I…I am." mumbled Akihiko while looking up at the worried faces of most of the Sleeping Knights, even as he sat again while still holding Yuuna's prone form. "…why is Shinozaki-san still driving?!"

"Bite me, we're in way too much of an emergency to change drivers, and it seems no one else here has been doing so for at least a few years! I may not have a license, but at least my dad's lessons are fresh on my mind!" retorted Rika while gripping the wheel a bit too tightly, eyes fixed on the sand and wincing every time an inhuman sound that wasn't laughter reached them. "Fuck…dammit…no…"

"…we need to go back…" muttered Yuuki from where Aiko was holding her, Akane sitting near them with a frustrated/resigned expression. "Please, Nee-san, Merida, we can't leave him! Kirito…!"

"He's…I don't think we can do anything for him now, Yuuki." softly replied the leader of the alien hybrids with a trembling voice, as if the mere fact of saying such words caused her pain. "We just…we need to make sure everyone is safe…"

A quite subtle way of saying they would all just be in the way, but no less painful for it. After all, despite trying their hardest, the alien hybrids had barely been a bother for Mirai in her previous form, and it had been borderline suicide for the humans to get close during that part, as Yuuna's current state showed. While Kazuto had still been backing them up.

Now? Getting close would be like asking to be horribly murdered in a very messy way. Whatever the hell had happened to him, it was clear that the Lusus Naturae had lost all sense of reason the moment the brown-haired girl had been 'killed' before his eyes and turned him into an animalistic nightmare. Akihiko wasn't even sure he even had a coherent reason to attack his 'sister' beyond being the closest and biggest thing to himself.

Slowly, the father of FullDive technology looked around, seeing frustration and impotency in everyone eyes. Also rage and regret. Loss and…emptiness.

It was quite easy to see it, at that moment. How that bizarre 'boy', that alien experiment a careless and quite frankly stupid race had discarded like trash and that had only stumbled upon this planet, upon their lives, by a series of freaky coincidences and mistakes, had changed them so much. Had become such an important part of their lives.

More so for others, as his eyes could easily see.

Shiori was looking out of the window and cursing softly while mumbling 'Kii-bou…' from time to time as they got further and further away.

Shino and Keiko sat together, Pina curled on the former's lap, but even as it was the youngest one who sobbed softly, it was the older one who was being comforted with pats on the back, muttering about her efforts having been useless (Though being fair, the scientist was more than impressed, if a little disturbed, that the girl had prepared and carried around makeshift 'anti-alien bombs' made with lots of spicy and irritating dust as precautions).

Asuna was doing her best to look strong despite the tears in her eyes, refusing to look back and just trying to tell the last and most silent person within the van that everything would be fine.

And her…Kirigaya Suguha, that is, was just looking blankly at her feet, seemingly unable to do or say anything…or so Akihiko thought until her fists clenched at the latest roar coming from the clashing alien monsters shook the vehicle. Then, she all but stood up, scrambling over the slightly cramped (Despite it being big enough to carry everyone) space within the van to rush towards the man, ignoring the group's surprised looks as she leaned over Yuuna's prone form.

"What the…?! Kirigaya-san, what are you…?!"

"…she's alive." muttered the young kendoka with a vibrant look in her teary eyes, everyone's eyes widening in shock as she gripped the girl's chest. "Yuuna, wake up!"

"Wa-wait, what are you saying? She has no pulse…she isn't breathing." looking contrite, Si-eun tried to move closer to the youngest Kirigaya, clearly thinking she had lost it. "Suguha-san, please, you need to…"

"NO!" silenced the Suguha with fierce eyes, another roar of mindless rage and fierce hunger almost making Rika lose control of the vehicle (Though her attention being focused on the events behind her may also have been the cause of that). "She's alive…I know it…I can feel…she wouldn't…she wouldn't leave Onii-chan like that! Do you hear me, Yuuna?! Weren't you boasting you would get to marry him before me or Asuna?! Then wake up! He needs…he needs you, dammit!"

"Suguha-chan…" cried Asuna while closing her eyes, hands tightening even as everyone blinked or gaped, though if it was for the 'marry' statement or because of how the girl seemed to be having an emotional breakdown was anyone's guess. "She…she can't…"

"…can't…annoying…little girl…" everyone's heart froze, eyes moving down to the impossible sight of Shigemura Yuuna's eyes opened so slightly it wouldn't be noticeable if they weren't paying attention, her voice coming out distorting and with broken gasps.

Also, the small bit of alien tentacle that had still been piercing her neck was gone…no, it had changed shape, almost seemingly turned into…'patches' for her skin. As if it had suddenly recognized her as something it should restore rather than hurt.

Kayaba Akihiko stared at the impossible phenomenon with utter shock, unable to understand what had happened…before his gaze snapped towards Kirigaya Suguha, who was just smiling down at her 'friend' as she continued crying.

Had she…had she done THAT? But how?! She wasn't 'really' Kazuto's little sister, emotional considerations aside; she wasn't even a hybrid like most of the people in the van were. She shouldn't have the ability to manipulate the alien DNA in any way…unless…

Had the boy somehow…?

"Wait, what the hell are you…?! SUGUHA!"

The sudden shout snapped the scientist back to reality, together with the sound of the vehicle's door being opened, just in time to see the young kendoka jump off the van and rolling into the sand, ignoring everyone's shouts of her name.

Grunting in pain, Kirigaya Suguha rolled back to her feet, ignoring the throbbing all around her body and the sand in her face to run back, just idly aware of how the pain seemed to be dulling starting from the spot connecting one of her legs to her body…the same one her brother had re-attached to her minutes earlier.

That felt like a lifetime ago now, though. Even as she ran towards the laughing monster that had come to hurt her most important person and…whatever he had become in his pain and grief. She didn't care.

He was still her dearest big brother. The person she loved the most in the world. No matter what. And, at that moment…he needed her.

As if in accordance with that thought, the abomination calling herself Mirai 'slapped' him away, the Lusus Naturae's massive bulk flying through the air and crashing down just a few meters away from the sea with cataclysmic force, almost making her lose her footing…but it had also left him uncanny close to her.

"ONII-CHAN!" screamed her at the top of her lungs, running faster than she had ever before even as the titanic creature slumbered back to his feet, almost drunkenly. "SHE'S FINE!"

Animalistic alien eyes shot towards her, as if registering her presence, the mindless rage in them not mattering in the slightest for the young kendoka, for their bizarre color and shape that would have terrified even hardened soldiers had been synonym of comfort and safety since she had memory.

 **"What are you doing, bug?"** came Mirai's distant and distorted voice, as if having also spotted her. **"You're in the way."**

"Yuuna is fine! You heard me?! She's still alive!" continued screaming Suguha while completely ignoring the other creature, tears filling her eyes as what Kazuto had turned into turned fully to look at her, tentacles thicker than a car and longer than her house whipping around angrily. "She…she needs you, Onii-chan! I…I need you too. Come back to us…to me…please…"

 **"I said you're in the way!"** roared the most violent of the alien experiments, her massive limbs stretching forward like bullets the size of small buildings…only to be prevented from touching the human by a wall of smaller tendrils, put together in a geometric shield-like formation. **"What?!"**

"…Onii-chan…?" whispered the young kendoka between sobs, idly aware of the tentacles protecting her, of the van coming back towards where she was, of Mirai's angry roars…

But most of her focus, her mind, was fixed on the many eyes of the titanic creature before her, even as it tilted to the side, staring at her.

Within the chaotic mess that was the 'mind' of X-K0940…the sound of the girl's cries echoed.

Slowly, it made 'something' within open its eyes, remembering. That sound was…familiar. Intimately so.

That's right…it was the first sound it…no, HE had ever heard, so long ago he had almost completely forgotten it.

Not in his life before as a mindless beast being raised and experimented on by the Tryums, but as a 'human being'. It hadn't been the voices of the married couple that would become his parents, no…it was the crying voice of a baby girl what had reached his mind first as he gained 'awareness' within that pod, as the human DNA filled him and let him 'think' like one of them.

That little girl. The teenage one before him. His little sister. Kirigaya Suguha.

 ** _(EatDevourConsumeAssimilateOneAllNothing…!)_**

With a gasp, Kirigaya Kazuto emerged from the sea of blood and flesh that was his mind, the deformed parody of his body 'looking' around at the limbs, heads and more things he couldn't name emerging partially from it, all of them 'chanting' endlessly at him, all of them trying to bring him down again, with them…

He simply stared back, easily pulling himself out, easily becoming 'himself' again, nothing but pity and sadness in his gaze.

"I see…I see now. That's why my soul is like it is…so 'fragmented', unlike everyone else's…is because of you all, isn't it?"

 ** _(PainAngerRageConsumeAbsorbOneAllNothing…!)_**

"You all…every single one of you, so many I can't even count…every time I ate you…no, every time she fed you to me, so recently dead, I…no, whatever I **am** , forced a part of you to stay, didn't it? A part of your souls…became a part of mine. Of me."

 ** _(ONEMANYDEVOURONEMANYDEVOUR…!)_**

"I'm sorry…I can't say I understand your pain. At all. And I can't really make it up to you in any way I can understand…but…I can't stay here. I can't become 'you'…because they need 'me'. My little sister. My family. my friends. Everyone I love. I had almost forgotten it for a moment, in my pain, but…now that I remember it, your voices can't draw me back anymore."

 ** _(…PainLonilenessDespair…)_**

"Yes…being alone must be terrible, isn't it? But…you don't have to be alone. You're ALL a part of ME, remember? We're one and the same, so…let's not do this. You all are also who they care for. You're all also big brothers, sons, friends…we're all Kirigaya Kazuto. We're all…Lusus Naturae."

For a moment, there was silence. Then…something that the boy couldn't put a name to.

But in his mind, it sounded very much like endless crying.

And it was with a burst of flesh receding and animalistic screeches that Kirigaya Kazuto opened his eyes for real too, standing before his shocked sister, who didn't even register the fact that he was naked before rushing forward and hugging him, her sobs renewing in strength.

Silently, the alien experiment turned human hugged her back.

"Onii-chan…Onii-chan…!"

"Sorry for scaring you, Sugu. I'm back. Now, did you say Yuuna was…?!"

 **"WHY?!"** reacting faster than she had ever seen him do before, Kazuto carried his little sister and jumped away from Mirai's massive tendrils, which would have crushed them both if he hadn't. **"Why did you turn back into that pathetic form?! You were so close to becoming the 'real' you, brother!"**

"Stop calling me that! The only one who has any right to do so is right here in my arms, and she's one of the people I love the most in the Universe!" roared back the Lusus Naturae as he landed on the sand, ignoring how the girl turned beet red at his words as he let her go, standing protectively before her. "And you, Mirai…is time I stop you once and for all."

 **"Stop me…? Has your mind decayed so much from interacting with them, brother?! Even before, you could barely oppose me like this!"** roared the abomination with all of her mouths, the earth trembling in all directions as she did so, forcing the group inside the van to stay back even as they stared at the scene with bated breaths, relief, fear…and hope.

"That's because…I was fighting you like a monster. And I would never win that way because you're an even bigger monster…but also because I'm more than that! I'm a human being! A son, a friend, and a big brother! I'm Kirigaya Kazuto!" shouted the black-haired boy as his body shook, eyes closing for a moment before he sent a smile to his sister behind him and to the people in the van, as if trying to reassure them. "But I'm also something else. Something very adept to fight monsters, even if not in this world…but still me!"

 **"What…are you saying…?"** growled Mirai in clear confusion.

"I…am a Hero."

And having made that declaration, as if it was the most natural thing to do, Kazuto… _posed_.

Kayaba Akihiko **stared** , idly aware that everyone else was doing the same. Not because of the fact that the alien boy seemed to have forgotten about his nudity (Though he was sure several of the girls staring were more than mindful of it), but because he could easily recognize WHAT pose that was. Hell, he could see in everyone's eyes that they did. Even the youngest in the group, Keiko, Akane and the twins, clearly had a vague idea of it.

After all, one couldn't grow up in Japan and not at least had heard or seen in one way or another one of the most iconic 'heroic' poses ever, with the boy's right arm aiming left diagonally before himself.

"…is he really…?"

"Yes, Clovis, I think he is."

"There is…there is no way that's going to work…right?"

"…are you seriously asking that, Nori?"

"Is…is Kirito really going to…?!"

"Yuu…at this point, I don't think anything is impossible for…"

"HE'S DOING IT!"

Akane's excited shout was in utter contrast with the eerie silence outside as the Lusus Naturae's arm moved clockwise over himself, slowly changing his pose as he uttered a single, world-shattering word.

"HENSHIN!"

As soon as the cry was uttered, true to it, Kazuto 'transformed'. His naked body grew and turned slightly more muscled, filling out and turning black even as metallic-looking bone plate formed armor around him, enclosing every inch of himself except his head.

A 'helmet' grew around it. Literally, from his neck, as if he had deliberately done so in a way that wouldn't really 'transform' his head and only Suguha realized the 'why' of it immediately.

For, behind that black and slightly insect-like 'helmet', the boy's eyes never changed into those of his true nature. They remained as human as they were in their father's own, in a direct defiance of every single time he had 'transformed' in any way in the past. A if to challenge his true nature with his 'Human' one.

Standing proud, the armored black figure glared forward, staring up at the alien abomination's titanic mass as if he had nothing to fear, two black blades made of his bones growing from his arm as he easily caught them in his grips.

An eye opened on his chest. One of his back too. Then two on his forearms, shoulders, and knees. And, as if an afterthought, 'eyelids' made of some sort of transparent chitin covered them, protecting the obvious weak points with a hardness easily surpassing diamonds.

In answer to the shocking development…Mirai released an angered sound.

 **"Are you…mocking me?! What is that ugly form?! Why are you insulting me by taking a shape based on these insects, brother?!"**

Once again, the gigantic tendrils lashed out, this time in angles so that the two in her sights couldn't escape…

 **"Starburst Stream."**

And they brutally repelled, the alien monster unable to hide her utter shock as their tips were impossibly shredded apart by 16 ultra-fast slashes from the bone-blades, which were now surrounded by a chirping electric-like energy being generated by the armored alien's hands.

Standing proudly before his awed little sister, unwilling to back down even an inch, the transformed Kazuto spoke again.

 **"Now you face Kirito, the Smiling Swordsman."** true to his words, the Lusus Naturae let a face-splitting grin appear behind his helmet **. "Time for round two, 'sis'. It's time I teach you what happens…when you're not a nice person."**

Declaring so, the black-clad boy shot forward thrice as fast as he had ever done, tearing inside and _through_ the body of the abomination calling itself his sister. A roar of shock quickly became one of pain.

And the last round of the clash of freaks started…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Done! Freaking finally, eh? Also, yeah, that's what happens when you let an alien abomination watch too much Kamen Rider XP

For those who want a clarification, Kazuto basically did Kamen Rider Ichigo's transformation sequence there. Also, his 'evolved form' was inspired by both the game Bloodborne and the manga Hakaiju, with a mix of Lovecraft, of course. And his 'armored form' there at the end was inspired by Alex Mercer's own from the game Prototype (But if the guy had been a Kamen Rider fanboy XD).

Also, sorry it had to end 'there', really. I swear, this was planned from long ago to not bloat the chapter unnecessarily, but my time-eating-job getting in the way and making this seem like an eternal wait didn't factor back then, sorry to force you to wait more to see the full conclusion to this part of the plot, my dear readers…

Anyway, onto the chapter itself, not much more to say than what you already read. We got a small glimpse into Lusus-kun's true and disturbing nature, the depths of which no one but Mirai seems to really know, not even himself yet, even if he reached deeper than ever before now. How will that affect him? You're about to see…

And Waryum got 'saved' by the skin of his teeth, though if that's for better or worse remains to be seen…with that said, though, I leave you with this time's Omake so you can read a bit more!

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 9: What's colder than loneliness?**

Shirayuki Mizore was abnormal and apathetic even among her fellow monsters, and that was something she knew and accepted without much care. At least outwardly.

Then again, being a Yuki-Onna, a Snow Woman, one of the most reclusive and secretive races of youkai, and also amongst the ones with the most myths and inaccurate stories about their relationships with other beings, human especially, that wasn't too much of a surprise.

In fact, she didn't mind that at all, for if her experience earlier that year had taught her anything was that, sometimes, it was better to not be noticed at all. To be honest, she wouldn't really have come back to classes, despite being a student of Youkai Academy, if it wasn't because of the 'rumors' she started hearing a few weeks back.

About the exploits of the strange members of the recently reformed Newspaper Club. Or, to be more specific, those of a certain member in particular, around which everything seemed to revolve. A bizarre boy that was apparently a kind of monster no one had heard about before…

Kirigaya Kazuto. Who just so happened, as if it was a joke of Fate, to be going at the same class she was supposed to.

Intrigue and curiosity had slowly grown within her, wondering if perhaps all of it was just a coincidence or maybe life trying to tell her something. Bit by bit, she started to learn more about him, overhearing other students' conversations, snatching away newspapers and reading the articles he made and, more recently, even subtly spying on him.

She was _very_ good at going around unnoticed and watching over other people when doing so. Though she wasn't sure why that seemed to disturb others so much, but again, she didn't really care much about it.

Her work had proved quite the interesting and satisfactory results: Kazuto was a nice, brave and caring person. Someone who valued those he held close more than anything and that would do everything in his power for them. Also, his articles regarding understanding and comprehension between youkai (Of a surprisingly high quality for having been writing by a boy just starting High School) had more than fascinated her, especially how honest and firm (To the point that some may have called it naïve) his belief on everything he wrote seemed to be.

The Yuki-Onna had found herself enraptured and captivated by him easily enough. The whole debacle with Kuyou and the PSC the other day had only reinforced that.

He truly was everything she dreamed and hoped for, and this time she had actually seen and checked it out firsthand to be sure of it. The black-haired boy was, no doubt, the perfect candidate to belong to her, forever…

Of course, there was just a small problem with that, beyond that he probably didn't even know she existed (At least until she had 'casually' greeted him that morning when buying a newspaper, which he had answered with a bright cheer that had made her cheeks feel strangely warm): The girls around him, which he seemed unusually close to, and that were clearly infatuated with him. They were an obstacle for her…therefore, they needed to be…'removed'…

Which was what had led to the current situation. That is, Mizore waiting patiently while sitting beside a small lake/swamp of the many that littered the forests around Youkai Academy, the girl with long light purple hair softly licking a lollipop. All in all, standing there with her light brown skirt, a white sweatshirt, equally white shoes (Accompanied with long dark & light purple-striped stockings) and a yellow pendant (Never mind the belt oddly tied to her left leg), nothing about her indicated anything but a gentle loneliness.

And it was to that sight that Kazuto walked out to, blinking in surprise for a moment before regarding her with a curious look.

"Hi there, Kazuto. I see you received my letter." smiled the Snow Woman while turning around. "I'm…"

"Shirayuki Mizore, I know!" happily replied the black-haired boy with a smile, freezing (Pun not intended) her dead in her tracks. "You're in my class; sit a few seats behind me!"

"Yo-you know me…?" asked Mizore with actual shock, not having expected that.

"Well, yeah? I mean, you came back to classes all of a sudden two weeks ago, you seem like a nice person and you have been kinda watching me a lot while hiding lately." commented Kazuto as if he was just talking about the weather, even as the Snow Woman recoiled slightly at the admission. "I thought it was because you were very shy so I decided not to say anything until you felt ready to openly talk, and it happened in the end so I'm glad I did! Do you perhaps want to be friends?"

Suffice to say, the purple-haired girl was quite thrown off and unsure of how to react at that moment, which was very strange for her. After all, she was no stranger to people finding her out when 'watching over' them sometimes (Even if they always called it stalking), and it had never really bothered her at all.

However, the way in which he reacted…so _sincere_ and happy just because she was finally talking with him out in the open, truly not minding at all that she had been 'spying' on him and his friends, honestly seeming not bothered or finding that 'weird' or 'disturbing' at all, like every other person since she had moved away from her home village had always done…it was making her feel oddly shy and embarrassed, making her cheeks heat up in an unknown but not unpleasant way she had never experienced before.

It seemed she was right, after all. He truly was something else, someone special, if he could make her feel so many strange things with just a few words. He truly was the one who…

"Kazuto-kun…the truth is, I'm a fan reader of your work." confessed Mizore with a soft smile while walking extremely close to him, though the boy didn't seem to react negatively to her invasion of his personal space beyond another blink. "He-here…look, I made this scrapbook with some of your articles from the school newspaper…"

Clearly curious about the whole deal, Kazuto accepted the small notebook, opening it…and looking into the many cut-offs articles spread over the many pages, with tons of words that had been writing countless times over and over on the edges and sometimes even over the articles, so deep the ink seemed to almost pierce the page, looking honestly quite disturbing for any sane person…

"Woah, amazing! You ordered all of them without missing a single one…and you even put your personal thoughts and notes about them on every single page!"

…but then again, the Lusus Naturae was probably someone that totally didn't fit said description.

"Yo-you can tell with just a glance…?" asked the Snow Woman while feeling the blush on her cheeks intensifying, mirroring the smile on the boy's face with her own.

"Yes, I have very good eyes for these things. I learned how to make articles like these from my mom so it would be bad if I didn't, that's also an important part about writing them…" explained Kazuto with a thoughtful look, before smiling once again. "In fact, I think I want to show this to my friends, I'm sure they will love it too! Why don't you come with me to the Newspaper Club, Shirayuki-san? Everyone will…!"

Slowly, the Lusus Naturae realized something was 'wrong', that there had been some drastic change in the air around the girl as he said the last words.

It probably had more to do with the way in which the temperature had dropped dramatically and frost had started to cover every surface around them than with his own ability to realize he had said something wrong, though.

"The Newspaper Club…what's so special about those girls? They can't possibly understand you…you're the last of your race, right? That must make you feel very lonely inside, no matter how many other people surround you…and I can understand that loneliness, understand you, better than anyone else in this school…" whispered the purple-haired girl with a suddenly 'dead' tone, even as the boy felt the air around him turn freezing cold in an instant. "That's why, you should forget them and become mine and mine alone, Kazuto…"

More by instinct than anything else, the black-haired boy threw himself back easily, his eyes widening slightly at seeing the entire swamp freezing in a second and the change that Mizore had suffered, her hair and hands having turned into icy sharp icicles and her skin seeming to have gained an icy gleam, her face now devoid of any warmth.

"A Yuki-Onna…Shirayuki-san, you're a Snow Woman?" muttered Kazuto while tilting his head, once again not reacting as most people would at the sudden change and hostility coming from his female classmate.

"I am, indeed. We're a very lonely race that has problems to relate with others, and that has been declining in numbers during the last age, you know? That's why I just know, if anyone can understand me, it's you. And I can understand you better than…!"

"You're wrong."

Those words made the Snow Woman stop in her tracks once again, as if frozen (Once again not a pun), even as her wide eyes looked at the suddenly serious and narrowed gaze Kazuto was directing towards her.

"What…?"

"You say you know of me, but if you actually think that then you have clearly been only thinking and hearing what you want to. Deluding yourself." declared the boy with the same passion with which he had denied Kuyou the other day. "Sure, I may be the only 'Lusus Naturae' around…but I have never felt lonely. I have never been alone, and I thank the Heavens for that every day. Be it family or friends, I have always had someone around me to love and that could love me back, in one way or another…and even those few times I thought that what I am would be a problem or isolate me from them, they always made sure to scold me for thinking such stupid things. People should love you for WHO you are and for what you are, after all."

"…I see." mumbled the icy Youkai with a suddenly depressed tone, the temperature dropping further as her ice-claws grew. "You're right…we're just too different, I don't know what I was even think…!"

Then, the girl fell silent once again, in shock, seeing the Lusus Naturae standing before her, his hand holding one of her claws with surprising force and not seeming bothered at all by the deadly cold it should cause.

In fact, he didn't even flinch when ice crept up his arm from the contact, as if it meant nothing at all to him.

"I can't say I understand your situation, Shirayuki-san…but I know that the loneliness is hurting you, a lot. And I know that just imagining such a thing for me terrifies more than even the water does. I wouldn't wish such a thing on anyone, ever."

"Ka…Kazuto…" mumbled the Yuki-Onna while more unknown emotions whirled inside her at the sincerity of his words.

"You just told me a moment ago to forget about my friends here to be yours…but would you really want that? Tell me, could you honestly ever care for someone who would discard others because someone else told him to?" insisted Kazuto while tightening his grip on her icy limb, making her eyes widen in surprise. "Would such a person be worthy of any affection or trust from you? When you know firsthand they could do the same to you if someone stronger came along and told them to do the same?"

"I…I…" unable to find words, it was clear that Mizore had never thought that far, suddenly wishing to look away in shame, but finding herself unable to tear her gaze from the changing eyes of the boy before her, those alien and unnatural red and golden orbs seeming to pierce past her ice and into her soul.

Idly, she noticed the arm she had been subconsciously freezing bulging slightly and turning black and clawed, strange 'spikes' emerging from the limb and releasing a weird heat that warmed it and melted the ice. Surprisingly, it was just enough to do that, and not to hurt or even make her feel uncomfortable, steam of just enough hot and cold temperature rising between them at the continuous contact.

"You said something very scary just now. It sounded as if you wanted to hurt my friends, and I would never forgive you if you did that…but things don't have to be that way, you know? They can be your friends too. You can become like me…someone that, no matter what their circumstances are, doesn't have to be alone anymore." softly declared the Lusus Naturae while his gaze softened and he raised his other hand, tenderly caressing the icy cheek of the girl, his touch feeling unusually warm despite her nature. "Instead of lashing out or watching in silence…why don't we talk, Shira…Mizore-san? Would you tell me what hurts you so much; what makes you so distrustful that you would act like this without giving others a chance…? So that I can understand you better?"

At those words, something within Shirayuki Mizore seemed to break, even as the temperature around them returned to normal, icy tears forming on the Snow Woman's eyes.

At that moment, the girl's Ice Clone, which had been threatening Moka with deadly intentions and that had been about to be destroyed by Kurumu and Yukari in a 'surprise attack' upon seeing their friend, love rival and love interest (In the latter's case) in danger, stopped and collapsed into harmless pieces of ice, making all three girls blink.

Around ten minutes later, all three of them would find Kazuto, sitting close to a half-melted swamp and with Mizore crying like a little girl in his arms, even as he whispered soothing words to her and waved their way with an awkward look. A lot of explanations would ensue.

Not so far away, though…a tall figure hidden in the shadows observed the scene with a scowl, clearly unamused by it all.

"Tsk, dammit Shirayuki…what the fuck was all that? And that Kirigaya boy…he's more trouble than I considered…I will have to deal with them before things turn more complicated…"

Declaring so, the man turned around, a sinister smile appearing on his face.

Behind him, as his form distorted slightly, eight long tentacles swung in the air menacingly…

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** Done with that! Heh, that was honestly interesting to write :3

Reading the manga again, I'm surprised by how deep, if quickly brushed aside after they happen for quite some time, some of the situations of R+V first half were, especially when introducing the characters. Comedy and 'romantic' shenanigans usually made one forget if they weren't paying attention, but like mentioned with Kurumu and Yukari's situations, things are surprisingly deeper than they may seem at first glance (Especially compared to the anime), and they didn't take full advantage of that until the manga's second half.

Mizore is a fandom-favorite, and while not my Best Girl I liked her a lot too, so writing her was both interesting and complex. Her issues and insecurities at the beginning, and also her 'obsessive' personality, are both bizarre and understandable at the same time, given everything we get to know about her and her situation, but also have a lot of 'problems' that only become obvious when you analyze them deeply, like what Kazuto pointed out up there about the lack of faith you should put on someone you 'forced' to love you and to ditch others they care for if ordered. These are understandable because she's, Youkai or not, a teenage girl in the end, and I think we all know emotions run rampant and can usually make us make a lot of mistakes at that age.

Of course, Lusus-kun is NOT Tsukune, so things change quite a bit. Personality and traits aside, and lack of over-reactions caused by the human nature and social awkwardness of the latter, when it comes to feelings he understands them very well because they're important to him, even if he rarely voiced them aloud unless it's necessary (His 'confession' to Asuna, Suguha, and Yuuna in the main story should be proof of that, even if he's not the sharpest one yet to 'notice' when other's feelings are directed towards him, at least those of romantic nature). More than friends/romantic rivals or a love interest, what I think Mizore really needed when first introduced was someone that would listen to her and try to understand her situation, so I tried to portray how that would go here. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it :3

Anyway, with that said, we're done here! This long-delayed update is finally over. Seeya all next time in OPG:CoF, even if it may take quite a while. And while we're at it, a shoutout to my friend KnightEstoc, who has helped me keep my writing muse alive during these longs work days. Go check out his "Stand Together and Smile" SAO fanfic if you haven't yet, it's great and will give you something nice to enjoy while waiting for more here XP

Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!


	15. Chapter 13: A Human Monster

**PREVIOUSLY ON KAMEN RIDER FREAK!**

…snort…okay, no, sorry, I just couldn't resist making that joke after reading one of the reviews for the last chapter. My bad XD

Hi there once again, everyone! Sorry for the slight delay on this Update, I just got a new gaming laptop to replace my old one (Which I gifted to my sister as she went overseas to study), so moving everything from my old one and getting it ready took some time, but was especially annoying writing-wise in that I lost most of my auto-correcting words that I had set over the years for my fics. Wasn't that much of an issue with Eroge, but here in Lusus Naturae a lot of 'weird' words were lost and I had to set them all again as I went when I saw them not 'fixing' themselves like I'm used to.

That aside, though, it's a great month for SAO fans! The Alicization anime has begun and the hype is through the roof with that! Seeing some of those scenes finally animated was just…hnngh!

Back to this story, though, ready for some freaky awesomeness before shit gets truly real? If so, enjoy this chapter!

And always remember that help with this fic's TvTropes page is greatly appreciated because your dear author still sucks as a Troper!

 **PS:** This chapter has been Betaed by my good friends Pikatwins! Thanks again pal!

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: A Human Monster**

 **January 8th, 2024. Kanagawa, Hayama. Isshiki Beach, 22:00…**

It was the strangest and most exhilarating feeling he had felt in his entire life.

That was the only way in which the being called Kirigaya Kazuto could describe the feeling he now experienced.

It had nothing to do with how he was basically tearing through tons of super-hardened muscle, flesh and bone (all of which was trying and failing to kill him at the same time) thankfully. Otherwise, he may have worried about his mind having been affected in a very scary way.

No, what truly made him feel that he was in that moment was the absolute feeling of freedom. Of 'wholesomeness'. Of…of suddenly having become aware of all of himself.

As he exploded through the back of the creature calling herself his sister, he felt it, in every fiber of his transformed being.

 **"HOW?! Hurts…brotheeeerrrrr!"**

Mirai's roar came accompanied by a myriad of deadly tendrils and spikes reaching out, trying to cut him apart, to tear into him, to drag him within their wicked mouths.

Right. Left. Up. Down. Behind. From your back. In a downward angle from the reverse diagonal. Under you. Straight for your limbs…

 _Block. Cut. Parry. Counter. Sword Skill. Kick. Backhand. Twist over. Roll into a back. Backflip against the tendril…_

All at once, like a chorus of madness, a million 'voices' talked and reacted, guiding him the same as he guided them, letting him impossibly repel the onslaught of his monstrous sibling's appendages as easily as he would a mob within Aincrad, new roars of pain echoing as he tore her flesh away…

All united as one, the cacophony not something that hurt or confused him anymore. For it were HIS voices. His 'soul', fragmented, but whole. Where there had once been chaos, now there was harmony, united under a single, simple drive.

 _'We must protect them. Our family. Our loved ones. We will protect them.'_

 **"Double Circular!"** finished the Lusus Naturae with a mighty shout, the simplest Dual Blades Sword Skill flashing as he cut through the last tentacle that had tried to crush him, one of the biggest ones, making Mirai release another bloodcurdling scream.

The alien abomination realized the reason for that a second later, as if finally becoming aware of the pain she was feeling. Shocked, she looked towards the pieces of her flesh that had been cut out, to the literal hole going through her…and realized her flesh wasn't growing back.

Her regeneration…wasn't kicking in. As if something had blocked her innate ability to shrug off almost anything in order to make way for her brother's blades.

 **"Ho-how…?"** rumbled the massive monster while stumbling back, closing the flesh around the hole running her through in an attempt to at least hide it from view. **"Tha-that can't be…yo-you shouldn't be able to…hurt me…!"**

 **"Last warning, Mirai."** declared Kazuto while turning around, pointing one of his black blades towards his mountain of a 'sister'. **"Stop and back off. Now."**

 **"Ne…NEVER!"** roared the alien abomination while all her limbs dragged her monstrous body forward, towering over the, in comparison, miniscule Lusus Naturae, as if attempting to crush him. **"You're…MINE! Not of the many-eyed fools, none of these human worms…ONLY MINE! Only I can understand you in this Universe!"**

Pouring an untold amount of pain and hatred in those words, Mirai all but catapulted her entire mass towards her brother, sand almost literally exploding upwards as she impacted over the area he stood in like a meteor.

Idly, the predator from beyond the stars could feel many strangled cries from the humans nearby, but they were of no consequences to her. All that mattered was that she had finally subdued him…!

 **"…no, Mirai. You can't understand me."** softly spoke the armored alien experiment from where he now stood upon the 'back' of Mirai's massive body, seemingly having lost one of his blades, making the abomination's thoughts come to a freezing halt as he had somehow moved to one of the almost nonexistent blind spots of her anatomy without being seen. **"And your refusal to accept that just makes this sadder."**

The beast hadn't even started to roar or try and reach for him before the area around him exploded with brutal force, Mirai feeling herself being slammed down onto the ground as the blast all but crushed her.

Staring in utter awe, Suguha didn't even react when the van containing everyone else came to a slow stop behind her, feeling how everyone was also looking dumbfounded towards the 'clash'.

"…how the fuck did he just do that?" questioned Shiori.

"You mean the explosion or the Shonen-like instant movement from before that?" demanded Rika while seeing the transformed form of the boy. Almost every female present felt something emerging from the dust and land not far from them, his focus fully on the monster he was facing. "Because I'm pretty sure he actually teleported for that bit…I saw a flash of purplish light and everything when he did so."

"…he can fucking Warp himself now?"

"Jun, language." chided Si-eun with an absentminded tone. To be fair, she never stopped staring either. "…Kayaba-san?"

"…yes, Siune-san?" asked the aforementioned scientist while slowly rubbing his eyes, which seemed to reflect the soul of a man that had gone through too much bullshit in his short life.

"…do you think there is any, even if theoretical, logical explanation for what we're seeing?"

 **"Form Change!"** Kazuto chose that moment to announce as he _posed_ once again, his 'armor' morphing and mutating, until he seemed to be wearing a samurai-like armor very reminiscent of Aincrad's 10th Floor Boss, dramatically passing a hand over his 'faceplate' until it was now vaguely skull-shaped, further enhancing his similarities with Kagachi the Samurai Lord. **"Samurai Lusus Kirito!"**

"…never let the alien experiment boy watch Kamen Rider in your lab almost every day." deadpanned Akihiko as the Lusus Naturae discarded his remaining sword and brought out a bone-katana from his arm. "It will cause horrible headaches."

"…heh…that's my Kazuto…" weakly mumbled Yuuna from where Keiko and Shino were helping her stand high enough to watch the 'fight' through a window. "Isn't he…great…?"

"Yes, Yuuna-san, Kazuto-san is amazing, but you need to rest now." advised the worried twin-tailed young girl…even as she didn't stop watching either. "Isn't that right, boss?…boss? Shino-san?"

Turning to the side in confusion at the lack of answer, Ayano Keiko was greeted by the most emotional visage she had ever seen in the face of the driven and slightly obsessive Asada Shino, the dark-haired girl having even taken off her glasses to just stare at the scene with awed eyes.

"…magnificent." muttered the unofficial alien investigator, barely loud enough for anyone to hear her.

"Holy…that thing is still in one piece?!" shouted Nobu with a panicked expression as he saw Mirai's monstrous bulk rising once again, hissing angrily at nothing while her eyes focused on Kazuto's new form again. "Ca-can he actually do anything that puts her down for goo…?"

"Tecchi?" interrupted Akane with an even tone.

"Ye-yes, Merida?"

"Hasn't he proved more than once…that he can do the impossible?"

 **"Why…WHY?!"** screamed the alien abomination as her body 'flattened' and then elongated, as if she had turned herself into some giant fleshy spring with the power of a thousand cannonballs, reaching outwards with tendrils and teeth towards her armored sibling. **"Why do you do this to me, brother?!"**

 **"You're the only one doing anything…"** replied the Lusus Naturae as he shot forward, his blade seeming to flow at his side with mastery completely different to the style he had been using before, calm and controlled, treading through the onslaught of flesh and bone like water over rocks. **"If you stop…I won't have to hurt you."**

 **"GRAAAAH!"**

 **"…have it your way."** sighed Kazuto with actual sadness in his voice, before his form blurred and he suddenly seemed to be in five places at once, slashing perfectly to cut and tear through most of the longer and thinner limbs of his monstrous sibling, the unbelievably fast 'copies' not wasting even a single move.

Mirai's screams once again pierced the night as she barreled through the sand, crushing one of the many sand dunes that had been formed by her earlier impact, and slamming into the ocean, staining it with black blood.

Calmly, 'Kirito' stood once again, almost majestically against the mood from a certain angle (Conveniently the one from which the present humans and hybrids were watching him), flickering his 'katana' to the side as he lowered it to his side again.

"…I thought he was only good with One-Handed Swords?" weakly asked Asuna while looking at Shiori in shock.

"Sa-same here! I never once saw Kii-bou pick up anything resembling a katana, not even in the Beta!" retorted the auburn-haired girl with wide-eyes.

"That's…because he didn't pick those skills from SAO." replied Kayaba as he saw the water exploding angrily as the alien boy's sister rose like something out of a Lovecraftian nightmare. "I know all the moves by memory…those aren't any contained within the database."

"…those movements…" muttered Suguha while her eyes opened to their limits, suddenly feeling like a little girl again, sitting within the dojo at her brother's side, both watching in awe as an old man swung his bokken through a series of motions that looked as amazing as it was impossible for them. "Onii-chan…"

The young kendoka felt tears filling her eyes as her face twisted into a nostalgic smile, even as the transformed form of her adopted brother walked forward and adopted yet another familiar stance.

 ** _"Grandpa… we're sorry we couldn't learn kendo like you wanted…"_** softly thought the Lusus Naturae as he saw the roaring form of Mirai skittering from the sea and moving towards him in a chaotic pattern, all coherent human thought seemingly having fled the beast in favor of her more 'reliable' monstrous instincts. **_"Sugu will always be better than someone that can only imitate others like us, though, so be proud…heh, you would no doubt have told us this was a dishonorable and lazy way if we had actually tried to get into it when we learned to control ourselves enough to not break the shinais. But, if it's to protect her and everyone we call 'family'…then I'm sure you would be proud of letting us borrow your skills!"_**

 **"MINE! MINE!"** screamed the alien abomination, 'open' like a monstrous and deadly flower of flesh and teeth, as she slammed against Kazuto and carried him with her momentum, the shouts of everyone in the background being lost as she felt utter glee. **"YOU'RE MI…!"**

 **"Kirigaya-ryu Ougi."** came from within Mirai's closed 'mouth', making her realize there was something stopping her teeth from fully closing together.

 **"What…?"** mumbled the alien abomination as the dregs of her human mind translated what she was hearing from Japanese.

 _'Kirigaya Style Ultimate Move…'_

 **"Yasashi Kaze."**

 _'…Gentle Wind.'_

The simple, super-fast stroke, meant to disarm the opponent from a blind spot, thus rendering them unable to fight, a very simple and non-flashy yet amazingly useful skill that two siblings had seen their grandfather only use once at their personal petition, was unleashed.

Amplified with the strength of a humanoid beast able to lift rocks heavier than tanks easily, as part of their mating rituals. Augmented by the reflexes of an 'insect' able to see and move in more than 43 directions per second. And with muscles and bones _coiled_ like what a certain plant-like lifeform would use to jump through forests in the escape from predators.

All coordinated by a million singing 'voices', united with one purpose.

Like something straight out of an anime, Mirai was basically bisected in one swing that seemed to cut the very air, the bone-katana shattering into a million pieces even as two massive masses of flesh flew in different directions and slammed through the sand with brutal force.

Somehow, the Lusus Naturae landed perfectly, letting go of his now useless katana hilt before turning around, seeing one of the 'halves' of his monstrous sister shaking and slowly standing up, bleeding so much she seemed to be throwing up her insides as she forced her flesh to close around the massive wound.

Back with the Earth-native group watching…something akin to muted silence (Or borderline worshipping awe, in cases like Yuuki's and Akane's) had seemingly taken over the group.

"Huh…this must be how characters in the background of a Shonen final battle feel like." mumbled Rika with a weird smile, barely resisting the urge to chuckle. "Oh Gods, that boy is just…"

 **"Not enough…it will never be enough…"** growled Mirai's distorted voice as her now long and deformed, almost worm-like, body turned around, opening her bloody maw of a mouth towards the silent 'Kirito'. **"I won't stop…until I'm dead…!"**

 **"…Form Change."** repeated the alien boy once again, his samurai-like appearance warping and vanishing in favor of bulkier and thicker armor, until it seemed as if he had turned into some sort of human mini-tank, his arms having warped into what Yuuna, even in her hurt state, recognized as the 'heads' he had used back during their first flight to shoot plasma from. **"Blaster Lusus Kirito! I don't want to hurt you anymore, Mirai…but I won't hesitate doing so if you keep threatening my loved ones. Leave."**

 **"Or…what…?"** snarled the monster as she growled towards the Lusus Naturae. **"That attack…doesn't hurt me, even in this state. You saw it…before…"**

 **"…maybe. But…tell me, 'sister', do you know what happens if you mix a plasma-based breath, very unstable ultra-electrical charges, teeth-shaped hyper-conductors and a very weird psychic-wave to shape it all together?"**

Utter silence filled the air while everyone present, human or not, blinked several times, before Akihiko paled as the closest to a potential answer (And that with him not being a biologist) came to him first.

"EVERYONE, GET DOWN!" shouted the scientist while jumping and throwing several of the girls to the ground, the Sleeping Knights' eyes widening and moving to cover the rest as if by instinct, the twins and Akane dragging a shocked Suguha inside…

 **"What?"**

 **"Me neither! Let's find out!"** shouted Kazuto while extending his transformed arms to the sides, four forms growing from the sides of the heads and a weird 'crown' of ever-warping blue energy surrounding the top of the mouths, lightning crackling from the horns as the plasma gathered within, the alien boy violently bringing them together as he aimed forward and… **"FINAL FLASH!"**

For an instant, all sound died, as if some unholy power had absorbed it all.

Then, a titanic blast of roaring orange-white energy exploded from Isshiki Beach towards the heavens, in a lazy diagonal that miraculously didn't touch the top of any nearby building, even as it tore through a small hill and vaporized it as if it wasn't there, before vanishing into the horizon.

Then, the shockwave hit, cracking windows, crushing cars and throwing people that had been under its blast radius painfully to the ground.

On the now smoking beach, a good part of the sand over where the blast had flown having crystallized…the fallen form of 'Kirito' slowly stood up, the Lusus Naturae coughing twice before reverting back to his naked 'human' form, looking a bit pale as he looked at the vanished hill on the distance and gulped.

"Okay…yeah…that was dumb of me. Mental note to never try that again…as cool as it was for the first few seconds." mumbled the alien boy before his eyes widened as he looked to the side, seeing the van where his friends and family had been lying on its side near the water. "EVERYONE!"

"Ugh…my head…" groaned Asuna from where she was lying, Yuuna on top of her and Shiori trying to squeeze herself out of where she was half-crushing them. "Ca-can anyone please get off me…?"

"So-sorry…still can barely move…" mumbled the idol-wannabe while looking around, seeing everyone sprawled on top of one another in one embarrassing position or another, all of them groaning in pain. "Is everyone…fi…WAH?!"

The girl's started cry was soon echoed by everyone within the vehicle, as it was righted up and put once again on its four wheels, before the door was violently thrown open and a worried Kazuto stared inside, his face filling with relief upon seeing them still alive.

Thank God no one had been directly hurt by that blast…

"We received serious damage on the left flank! It's a miracle the ship wasn't disintegrated!" screamed a random Tryum in that moment while most of the aliens ran randomly from one part of the bridge to the other, smoke coming from some of the consoles while the ship itself wobbled a little in the air, almost losing its special camouflage.

"Fate Above Everything…how did X-K0940 know that we were watching?! And where exactly we were?!" questioned a panicked Grotek while trying to help a shaking Ubom back to his feet.

"H-he didn't, it was just his damn dumb luck!" shouted back Waryum as he tried to stand, looking at the miraculously still working, if unable to move, bio-camera showing the scene, trying not to think of the most terrifying implications of what had just happened.

That the blast, despite having been released at almost a hundred Km. from where they were, hovering high above Tokyo's center, had reached them in less than a second. And that, if the scanners were to be believed, had kept going until reaching the atmosphere, probably having been seen from the entire country.

In a corner, the computer that had been helpfully informing them about the Biological Threat-Level exploded, the smell of burning bio-mechanical components filling the air.

Back at Isshiki Beach, an ignorant Kazuto was bowing repeatedly towards his dear people, seemingly very ashamed for his actions

"Tha-thank Heavens…I-I'm so sorry, everyone! I didn't think that attack was gonna be that stro…!"

"Kazuto." interrupted Akihiko while getting up from where Yuuki and Si-eun had protected/slammed him.

"A-Ah…yes, Akihiko-kun?" asked the Lusus Naturae with clear embarrassment.

For a moment, the father of FullDive technology felt tempted to remind him of his naked state (Though it was amazing that how the few boys were looking away and almost every girl was shamelessly staring hadn't warned him of it already), before option for simply pointing out towards somewhere behind him, a mix of concern and certainty in his voice.

"You missed…?"

 **"Wh-why** …?" moaned Mirai's pitiful form as she dragged herself forward over sand and breaking crystal, everyone within the ban tensing as they saw the now barely car-sized blob of black flesh basically crawling on tendrils towards them, the eyes opened with a mix of pain and denial. **"Why did you…miss on purpose?!"**

"…because I don't want to kill you." claimed the boy as he turned to look at her, freezing the alien abomination in place as he did so with his cold and unblinking eyes. "And…because I have already won."

 **"What? What are you…? GAH!"** suddenly, all of the unholy creature's form shook, everyone looking wide-eyed as her body spasmed and bulged in random places. " **Wha-what** did you… **do to** me…?!"

"Funny that you ask…don't you found it weird that I could hurt you all of a sudden? This isn't anime, 'sister', so a sudden burst of Power of Friendship sadly didn't let me do that…" spoke the Lusus Naturae as he walked closer to the twisting alien, who tried to lash out at him, only for the boy to easily swat the tentacle aside with one arm. "Instead, I laced the first swords I formed with a very potent virus, and I infected you with it when I used that first Sword Skill."

"I-infected…?! But…I'm…a virus shouldn't…!" Mirai couldn't continue talking, because at that moment black blood was all but thrown up from every mouth in her warping body, making everyone watching wince in a mix of pity and revulsion.

"A normal one wouldn't affect you, yeah, no doubt about that…but this wasn't a normal virus at all, even before I modified it to hurt you specifically. Then I left one of my swords lodged inside you after that first attack so that it could keep extending inside you until it was too late, even if you found it." mumbled Kazuto with a dark expression. "It's one of the nastiest things I have ever seen, making your very own immune system fail and essentially turning your own body against you…and I made it a gazillion times faster and rewired it to affect only 'our' base DNA, Mirai. Humans call it…Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome."

The alien abomination just wailed in agonic pain, but everyone still in the van had frozen in shocked horror, Akane turning to look how the twins had turned particularly pale, Aiko covering her mouth with both hands and Yuuki trembling before she shot out of the vehicle and towards the unmoving boy.

"N-no, Kazuto, stop! Don't do that to her, it's…no one deserves…!"

"It's okay, Yuuki. I said it before, didn't I? I don't want to kill her." interrupted the Lusus Naturae with an apologetic smile. "I know this is probably very cruel, but…it was the only way to 'force her'."

"Force…her?" asked Suguha as she also walked out of the van, everyone else following silently.

"Yes, because…don't you remember? There is DNA that isn't 'alien' inside her right now."

Once more, Mirai let out an unholy roar, before her body twitched and the center burst like some unholy parody of a creature giving birth, the inhuman sound giving way to a very human wail as her previous 'human' form exploded out, rolling out of her real body shaking and crying, panting for breath and covered in a foul-smelling liquid from head to toe.

"N-no…damn you…not like this…!" muttered the now pain-free girl as she looked down at her pale human hands in horror, her gaze shooting towards her silent brother in hate as her red eyes shifted into those he shared with her. "I will…! AAAGH!"

"Don't do that, seriously. Not only you have almost no biomass left in that body, the virus will start acting up again if you try to 'transform'." explained Kazuto with a tired sigh as he suddenly wobbled where he stood, Suguha worriedly rushing at his side and holding his shoulders, Asuna only not joining in because she was holding the still weak Yuuna straight. "It's over, Mirai. You lost. And for all your insulting of them…I basically just used a human disease to force you to become one of them permanently…how is that for some irony?"

"…why…why…?" cried the shaking 'albino girl' as she weakly stood up, everyone unsure of how to feel as she turned her pain-wracked face towards them, tears she probably wasn't sure how to deal with falling freely from her eyes as mucus filled her nose. "I only wanted to…wanted to…to be with you again, brother…like we were always meant to be…"

"No…you wanted something you thought I would…but you never considered I would want something different. In the end…"

Both siblings stared at each other, even as the phantom image of a world-sized mass of flesh and teeth with tendrils the size of countries shot through the weird mental link they shared, severing it with a sudden snap as the image was lost into the void…

"…you were only thinking about yourself, Mirai."

For a moment, the white-haired 'girl' just stood there, shaking, crying and biting back bitter sobs.

Then, her face seemingly 'broke down' and she turned around, not even letting the others react before she fled, running way faster than any normal human should be able to as she sobbed uncontrollably.

"I HATE YOU!" wailed Mirai as she shot beyond the beach, under the shocked gazes of the group.

"Ah, wa…!" started to say Kazuto before he suddenly stumbled and fell down, several worried cries calling out to him. "…its…weird…I suddenly feel…so tired…"

"That's definitively not good…and we should get out of here. Now that there are no 'giant monsters' around people and the authorities will no doubt swarm this place soon." pointed out Akihiko while everyone suddenly became aware of the distant sounds of people shouting and/or sirens in the distance. "Get in the van, now! We need to move, fast!"

"Bu-but what about…?" started to say Keiko while pointing in the direction the other alien experiment had run off to, her body still clearly being at least somewhat superhuman.

"We can worry about her later, right now we need to get Kazuto and the Sleeping Knights away from here before someone tries to arrest us and ask questions." reminded the man while boarding the vehicle again. "Plus, Yuuna still needs medical attention of some kind, and Kazuto can't heal her in his state, so…get inside and let's go!"

As they all shook off their hesitation and moved, some of the older Sleeping Knights actually helping put the half-awake and clearly exhausted alien boy inside…none of them noticed the figure hidden behind one of the half-crystalized sand dunes, his gaze moving from them to the direction Mirai had run off to.

After a moment of doubt, the figure's eyes hardened as he ran after the alien girl, just as the van drove away into the night.

And Somewhere…'stars' stopped bleeding and 'closed'…but not fully.

What had been Opened once could never the truly closed again, after all. And its sight was fixed on Earth, on its Owner, waiting to be called upon again…

* * *

 _"Two Wrongs don't make a Right."_ –C. Ackers (Or do they…?)

* * *

"…well, congratulations are in order, Grotek, Ubom. You haven't been active in this planet for even a week and you have managed to almost cause an Extinction-Level Event, lost a very unstable and extremely dangerous Omega-level specimen, and all but ruined any chance of our existence being kept hidden from the general human public. You truly are geniuses."

For anyone that wasn't human, the sheer amount of sarcasm within Waryum's voice was beyond painful, the Earth-dwelling Tryum clearly more than pissed and annoyed, with a slight hint of fear under his tone.

All in all, this was officially the most fucked up night of his life. And that was counting when his lab exploded, almost having been killed by Kazuto during the end of their first 'official' encounter…and the events in his 'previous job' before Earth.

The fact most of the crew was running around like headless chickens trying to assess the damage to the ship and making sure it could still travel through outer space without issues didn't help at all, really.

"Do-don't go acting all high and mighty on us, Waryum!" shouted a clearly frustrated but terrified Grotek while pointing his way, the High Researcher clearly still shaken by everything they had seen. "After all, you were the one that was about to get captured by humans when we saved you!"

"Yes, and they only managed to find me through the indirect actions of X-K0940, which I have been keeping somewhat at bay and not destroying the planet without a single piece of Tryum tech at all for almost an entire human year." retorted the Earth-dwelling Tryum without a hint of humor. "And despite my best attempts, you chose to ignore my warning and totally and completely fuck up my attempts at preventing something along the lines of THAT from happening!"

As he screamed the last words, Waryum was furiously pointing towards the destroyed computer that had been measuring the biological threat-level, the piece of biotechnology still merrily burning away as no one had bothered putting it out.

"…in our defense, we couldn't have known this would have…"

"But you fucking _should_ have! You're the High Researchers and the ones that created those things, for Fate's sake!" interrupted the Third-Rate Researcher with frustration, silencing Ubom and pacing even more furiously around. "Now because of you Kazuto…X-K0940, that is, has potentially become a threat to this whole damn Star System, and has been all but exposed the same night that highly capable humans, probably part of some stupid and/or shady government organization, found me! We're literally in a big countdown before the galactic Apocalypse happens!"

"…then we blow up the planet and are done with it." sighed Grotek as if it was the most normal thing, ignoring the horrified look the Earth-dwelling Tryum sent his way. "Yes, losing 941 while being unable to retrieve 40 is a major loss, but compared to the damage that letting the latter roam free if he goes out of control again would cause…"

"You can't do that! There are over 8 thousand million people in this world!" denied Waryum while all but gripping the other alien's arms. "And that's not even counting every single other non-intelligent lifeform on it!"

"And?! Waryum, be reasonable! You saw the bio-computer go up in flames, didn't you?! Just ten levels under the maximum ever registered already call for a Planetary Purge, and what X-K0940 turned into already reached that, before it suddenly evolved again and seemingly gained a level of bio-manipulation so perfect and deadly that it seems straight out of some madman's nightmares! Exceeding all Levels we had ever seen before!" retorted the older Researcher while forcing the other to release him. "So yeah, unless you want to put this entire galaxy in potential risk, especially with the amount of free biomass he has in this world, we need to destroy Earth!"

For a moment, the younger Tryum fell silent, his six eyes seemingly lost as he turned around, his eyes moving towards the screens showing the outside of the ship, the bustling metropolis of Tokyo under them.

After taking a moment to remember the random people he attended during his job in that stupid ramen shop in Akihabara and the simple gentleness of his boss Oguro…

"…and what if…what if we could just kill X-K0940? We wouldn't have to destroy the Earth then, right?"

…Waryum the Tryum took the decision that would change the world.

"…what?" asked both High Researchers at the same time, everyone else within the ship having also stopped and now staring at the Earth-dwelling Tryum as if he had gone mad.

"You heard me. There would be no need to destroy the planet if X-K0940 was neutralized, right?"

"…Waryum, has your time is this world make you completely lose your mind?! We're not a War-group, and this isn't a military vessel! The only 'weapon' we have onboard is the Core-Warper and that can only be set to cause planetary-scale destruction exactly for these situations, remember?! You saw what it did to 941 just now too, right?! Even if we were insane enough to try and go after 940, we would all be killed effortlessly without being able to even hurt…!"´

"And I have a way to shut him down in just one shot. Make his own body kill him, even worse than what he did to Mirai…to X-K0941 back there." darkly declared the Earth-dwelling Tryum while walking past his shocked 'superiors'. "I just need…to build a DNA-Transmitter, a suitable energy source and…something that's back in my apartment building. Nothing else."

"You…can shut him down to DNA-level? That…that could actually work." mumbled Ubom while scratching his chin, going through several simulations in his head. "Stupidly risky and reckless, yes…but it would work."

"Are…are you really gonna put yourself at risk like that for this planet, Waryum?" asked Grotek with a fascinated tone.

"I already gave you the numbers….and I have been living among them long enough to feel more at home here than I ever did back in Tryum-Delta." declared Waryum before taking a deep breath, a deep sadness filling his mind. _"Forgive me, Kazuto…but if it's between you and the whole Earth, then the choice is…clear for me."_

"Uhm…Researchers? Not to interrupt your talk, but…we may have a problem." spoke Pibap from where he was nervously checking something in his console.

"Ugh…what is it this time?"

"Yeah…Waryum mentioned needing something from his apartment, right? Well…the humans we saved him from before are kind of ransacking it and taking everything right now." mumbled the technician with a nervous look. "And…that's not all.

"What…could possibly be worse than that?" growled Ubom while the other two looked at the edge of a breakdown/mental collapse respectively.

"I…don't know if it's 'worse', but…that damaged bio-camera that survived the whole ordeal? Someone just…picked it up." finished the Tryum grunt with a shy tone before pointing to the main screen again, the image showing how the camera was being moved and then aimed towards the face of a bespectacled girl with dark hair.

A very disturbing smile appeared on her face before the image dissolved into static, leaving that last visage imprinted into the unnerved Tryums within the ship.

"…you just let Asada Shino get her hands on Tryum technology…yeah, I would say that's a horrible thing too." deadpanned Waryum before burying his face on his hands.

Was there anything else that could go wrong that night?

At that moment, somewhere within the vast uninhabited areas that surrounded Isshiki…a shaking figure could be seen sitting against a tree with her face buried between her legs and hugging herself, sobbing so hard it actually hurt to hear.

Mirai's body was dirty with mud, dirt, tears, and sand, not to mention the 'liquid' that had still been covering her human body upon hastily 'discarding' her bigger one (And that was the direct cause of the mud, actually). However, none of that seemed to matter even as she sank into a heart-wrenching grief, all the anger, rage, and hate of before seemingly having been engulfed by the new, confusing and unbearable feeling.

She didn't understand. The alien experiment forcefully turned 'human' couldn't understand. Not her brother's rejection of herself, of her attitude towards those inferior creatures, how he cared for them more than she thought she cared for him, how he suddenly surpassed her in every way for their sake…

And, especially, she didn't understand why those last words from him had hurt her so much. Why the implications that she had been only thinking of what she was best for her own sake, coming from his mouth, had…torn her apart so much.

It hurt. It hurt so much, deep within her chest, and the worst part was that she couldn't understand why, which only made her hurt more, made her sobs stronger, made her shake harder, made that damn saline liquid pour harder from the canals beside her primitive human ocular globes…

It was to be expected, though. After all, X-K0941 hadn't been created to deal with human emotions, something they had probably developed better than almost any other being in the cosmos, despite their many faults and shortcomings in every single other aspect. The original creature she came from hadn't been meant to ever experience such either.

Her brother had the luck of getting used to them bit by bit, to learn from them, to 'become' one with them. She, however, had gone from thinking like a murderous single-minded beast with just enough intelligence to craft a 'plan' (Which had gone to hell as soon as she had been separated from her sibling and seemingly doomed forever until the current events, without her being able to do anything about it) to giving herself a 'name'.

An identity.

With higher thought came emotions. Feelings. A myriad things that X-K0941 wasn't prepared to deal with, that had made her only see what she wanted to see and, once that had been so thoroughly denied to her, turned upside down and left her an emotional mess.

Now, alone, powerless and experiencing something humans could probably call along the lines of 'absolute heartbreak', the creature…no, the monster turned 'little girl' (Because that was what she was, emotionally, despite her body's looks) could only shake and cry, her earlier 'tantrum' having been thoroughly crushed at having been denied what she wanted. At being told she could never have it.

It hurt. So much. And she didn't understand. She wanted it to end. Even the pain that horribly beautiful virus (Because of course a destroyer and a predator like her could see the beauty in such a terrible biological weapon) within her caused every time she tried to will her biomass to change into her true self, killing the cells that tried to mutate, couldn't compare to it.

It was a kind of hurt she couldn't make go away. One that she couldn't just kill and eat to make it stop. It was driving her mad. Not understanding drove her mad.

She…she wanted it to end. But…more than that, she wanted it to end by her brother's hand. Either by him killing him like she would have expected…o-or by coming to tell her everything would be fine. To tell her she could come back to his side.

It was strange…and she understood it even less…but, at that moment, she wanted the pain to go away by her brother coming for her and telling her everything would be…

The sound of something just behind her broke Mirai out of her chaotic self-reflection, her eyes widening upon realizing she had been so distracted with her grief that what little remained of her inhuman senses in that form hadn't noticed something sneaking behind her.

Her earlier thoughts coming back to her mind, the alien experiment experienced 'hope' for the first time, turning around and expecting to see her brother there…only to freeze in shock upon the cold and empty visage looking down at her.

"Wha…? You?! How did you…?"

The white-haired girl was interrupted by something hard slamming painfully against the side of her head, a cracking sound echoing as she was sent tumbling to the side and into the ground.

Dazed, Mirai tried to stand…only for the same thing to slam against the back of her head again, accompanied by an angry scream, even harder than before.

And again.

And again.

And…

Black blood was dripping down on the floor and the body of the 'girl' was already barely twitching, but even so, several seconds still passed as the tall figure angrily slammed the crowbar against his head, until his hands hurt and he finally stopped, panting hard, looking down at the naked form with a mix of hate, satisfaction and…hopelessness.

For the first time in almost three days, Nochizawa Eiji let out a chuckle.

It was a bitter one, filled with despair and resignation, though.

"Karma…is a bitch, isn't it?" mumbled the young man with dead eyes before slowly grabbing his phone and, methodically, calling the Emergency Services, waiting for the expected slowness they were suffering in the area. "Humanity…isn't as useless as you thought, eh, little monster?"

 _"Good night, these are the Emergency Services."_ finally spoke a tired voice once the call connected. _"Can you tell me the nature of your…?"_

"Monsters in Isshiki Beach. You must have gotten several calls in the last hour talking about that, right?"

 _"I…sir, if this is an attempt at a joke, o-or whatever that happened there was, know that this line is only for…"_

"This is no joke. Just know that…I have explicit proof of what happened there, here with me." dryly commented Eiji as he kicked Mirai upside down, her bloody and dirty face staring unblinkingly at the sky, her slow and shaky breathing showing she was still alive. "If anyone is monitoring the situation, and I know at least someone HAS to be, tell them to track down this number to find me. That's all."

 _"What…?!"_

Uninterested, Eiji ended the call, putting the phone away on his pants and looking down at the monster that had tortured him without a care in the darkness for two days. Then, uncaringly, he grabbed her by the hair and started to drag her deep into the woods, letting Mirai's naked body crash with everything on their way almost on purpose.

Back in a certain cordoned off apartment building in Tokyo, Kikuoka Seijirou was glaring down at the shaky images of two monsters of nightmare clashing on Isshiki Beach, recorded by the phone of one of the MANY witnesses, cursing under his breath.

As if everything that night hadn't already gone well beyond anything he could have imagined, now it had turned out even worse. Videos and pictures of the whole thing were already out and about on the Internet by the hundreds, and multiplying/being saved with every second. Keeping it quiet would be all but impossible now, and it would take time to run 'damage control', especially with so many actual witnesses of the whole thing.

The government official still was more than frustrated by Waryum having escaped them earlier through whatever unknown alien bullshit he had done at the last second, and he was definitively not looking forward to explaining things to his superiors, all the evidence they had be damned. Whatever the hell had happened in Isshiki Beach, apparently as a direct consequence of their 'attack' on the alien's home, was only going to make everything wor…

"Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka?" interrupted one of the agents that had been within the operations' vehicle the man had been sitting at, making him turn around with an annoyed look. "Sorry to bother you, but…we found something you may want to hear. It's related to what happened down in Isshiki."

"Please, tell me it's not another call of someone screaming about knowing the aliens and their plans for world domination."

"No, we made sure to screen anything along those lines, just like you asked, but…this actually sounds different. The person involved said many 'weird' keywords we were looking for, then hung up without even giving the operator time to fully answer. They also sounded…surprisingly emotionally unstable, and not in the usual sense."

"…let me hear that call."

Twenty minutes later, as the vehicle he was in drove away, Kikuoka Seijirou looked deep in thought, even as he called to ask for a number to be tracked down.

Neither he nor the many officers stationed around the area noticed the forms of a pair of twins looking at the building they lived in with very worried looks from atop another one a few streets away, especially at all the lights and armed people around, and at the crowds being kept away from its immediate surroundings.

Exchanging a look without a word, the Konno sisters jumped away, heading back to their friends and family.

* * *

 _"Truly, if there is evil in this world…it lies within the heart of mankind."_ –Edward D. Morrison (When an old videogame character is SO right it hurts…)

* * *

Everything was strange and twisted. Like staring into a cotton-filled abyss.

Weird metaphor, maybe, but it was the first thing he could come up with. And it was actually a very nice one.

After all, with all the pain he experienced yesterday, such a comfy and warm feeling was probably the best he could have asked for. Especially with how nice and familiar it smelled, like several familiar things actua…

Wait a second.

Groggily, Kirigaya Kazuto felt his consciousness fully returning, the disoriented alien experiment realizing he was lying on his bed, in his house. And that the source of the comfort he felt came from a few warm bodies in the bed with him.

Namely, Suguha was half-hugging his head, making him use her chest as a pillow, while Asuna was hugging his back. And he was pretty sure Yuuna was the one using his stomach as a pillow.

"Huh…weird." mumbled the black-haired boy while blinking a couple times. "How…how did I get here?"

"Hnngg…Kayaba-san brought us home. We carried you here with the help of the Sleeping Knights." mumbled Suguha while tightening her grip on him. "I lent everyone some pajamas so we could sleep here, it was very late and some calls plus what was on the news were a good enough excuse for everyone's parents after we let them talk through the phone."

"Oh…but, why are you three in my bed?" asked Kazuto with a small blush, though he didn't shy from basking in the warmth the bodies holding him gave.

"We won rock, paper, scissors against…uhm, I mean, the Sleeping Knights stayed over, so we had to make room. Mom said it was okay." finished the young kendoka with a small blush. "The twins and Merida are in my room, Siune, Lisbeth, and Nori are sleeping in mom's, Argo, Sinon, and Silica-chan are on the living room using the couch and some futons…and the boys are sharing some sheets and such we found on the basement to sleep in the dojo."

"Ah, that explains…wait, why did they all stay over too?" further questioned the confused alien boy, not understanding why the Alien Hybrids would have stayed over, even if they were worried for…"Sugu? Why aren't you answering?"

"Because she didn't want to wake up and let go of you, I would assume. And the sad thing is I can't blame her, this feels…nice." sighed Asuna while opening her eyes, a blush on her face as the Lusus Naturae turned to look at her. "Morning, Kazuto-kun. And, well…things apparently went even crazier than we thought last night."

"Wha-what do you mean…?"

"Apparently, the government or something like that took over the Knights' apartment just as…that monster attacked us." spoke Suguha with a dark tone, clearly not liking to remember her brother's 'other sister'. "They had cordoned off the area and were apparently taking everything inside with them, from what the twins told us. And…there was no sign of Waryum-san, and his phone said it was out of commission when we tried calling him."

"WHAT?!" shouted Kazuto as he shot to his feet…or was about to, before remembering the weight over his waist. "Wait…Yu-Yuuna! Gods, I had forgotten, I have to…!"

"I'm fine, Ki…Kazuto…just annoyed you didn't let me sleep a bit more." groaned the songstress while slowly sitting up, ignoring the alien boy's worried but relieved face as she smiled at him. "Heh…we're already sharing a bed, uh? I think we're taking this relationship quite fast."

"Eh?!" squeaked Asuna while the Lusus Naturae just chuckled and a pouting Suguha tightly gripped his arm while glaring at the oldest girl in the room. "Yuuna-san, do-don't say such…!"

"I was trying to lighten the mood, Asuna, so I'm glad it worked…but yeah, we have a big problem right now." finished the idol-wannabe with a serious tone, only to blink at how Kazuto suddenly started touching her neck. "U-uh?!"

"…it's spotless. As if nothing ever happened." mumbled the alien boy while caressing the girl's skin in a very…suggestive way, making her blush and bit her lips while the other two suddenly found themselves staring with rapture attention. "How…?"

"I-I don't…ah…know. It just…I heard Suguha-chan screaming at me and I was better…then it kept getting better through the night…" panted Yuuna in a very arousing way, though the Lusus Naturae seemed too busy 'inspecting' her to notice. "I'm not…sure how…ah, Kazuto?!"

"Amazing…you really are all okay…" whispered Kazuto with an awed and happy tone, even as one small tendril grew from his finger and pierced into the songstress' neck. "The biomass of the tentacle Mirai used to attack you perfectly integrated with your throat and restored it, even if I have no idea how or why…you don't know how happy I am, Yuuna!"

"I…I'm glad to hear tha-that, Ka-Kazuto, bu-but…!"

"Uh…? UAH!" suddenly realized what he had been doing, the alien boy recoiled and retracted his tendril, blushing as he looked away ashamed. "I-I'm sorry, Yuuna! I sho-should have asked before doing that, I-I was just worried about…!"

"Shhh." silenced the brown-haired girl with a finger and an awkward smile, ignoring the pointed looks of the other two as she leaned forward and hugged the Lusus Naturae. "I think I told you already last night, right? I love you. And that means I accept you just like you are, no matter what."

"Yuuna…" mumbled Kazuto as he felt his heart rate accelerating and the voices within his soul singing in happy harmony.

"I-I also love Onii-chan! And I have told him so before!" cut in Suguha while burying her face on the boy's neck. "Do-don't try and take advantage because of everything that happened last night, Yuuna!"

"He-hey, ca-can we center in the fact that the existence of aliens may have been exposed horribly to the public and that our alien scientist may have been kidnaped by the government?" whimpered Asuna before finding herself the center of the other two's gazes, as if they were suddenly judging her, only for the Yuuki Heiress to shout in frustration and completing the three-way hug with almost possessive urgency. "A-and I also love you, Kazuto-kun, okay?! I-I'm just trying to stay centered here a-and…a-are you…patting my head?"

"You looked like you needed it?" offered the Lusus Naturae with that damn honest smile the chestnut-haired girl had fallen for.

"…idiot." whispered her while leaning forward happily…just as the door to the boy's room was thrown open.

"Good morning, everyone! Do you already know how are we gonna find Waryum-sa…? HEY! No fair!" suddenly pouted Yuuki while pointing at the four with an accusing look. "You didn't say you were sharing morning hugs! I want some too, last night was very tiring!"

"Wha…?!"

"U-uhm, but, Yuuki-chan, there is kinda no room anymore…"

"Well, that's easily solved! Just create some tentacles so you can hug me too!"

"What are you say…?!"

"Oh yeah, why didn't I think of that? Here you go!"

"Onii-chan?!"

"Yay! Hmm…this feels so nice…"

"…Kazuto-kun, stop that, I'm…deeply disturbed by watching it."

"Eh? But why…?"

"Hey, everyone, have you seen where Yuu we…? KYAH! What are you doing to my sister?!"

"Morning, Aiko-nee! Do you want Kirito to hug you too?"

"LIKE HELL! And you get away from that tentacle right now, young lady, your big sister is ordering you!"

"But I don't wanna…"

"Ugh…Merida! Yuuki is being stubborn about tentacles again, come and help me!"

"Argh, seriously, Ran? Can't you just accept that our little Yuu is into very weird things and move o…?"

"NO, I CAN'T!"

"…Onii-chan, seriously, let Yuuki-chan go before Aiko-chan destroys your room trying to get her…"

Meanwhile, mostly ignoring the quite active morning 'chatter', Asada Shino sat on the ground of the Kirigaya's living room, grinning like a mentally unstable person as her hands moved all over the strangely organic 'machine' she had before her, caressing the eye-like lens with utter fascination as she could almost feel it vibrating under her touch.

"So…what _is_ that, Shino?" asked Keiko from where she lay on the couch just beside her friend and 'boss', staring at the clearly alien machine with a mix of wonder and a sharp eye that no girl her age should have.

Having been 'trained' (Totally not brainwashed) by the bespectacled teen about the importance of being ready and knowing everything you could about aliens and the occult, plus being close friends with Kirigaya Kazuto, would sadly do that to anyone.

"This, Keiko dear, is clearly a piece alien tech. Tryum, if everything I noted down and organized after that one talk I was allowed to have with Waryum is true. Some kind of drone or semi-sentient camera, most likely." explained Shino as she kept touching the inhuman thing as if it was some sort of dear pet of hers. "I found it yesterday on the beach when the others were getting Kazuto on the van. I'm assuming that whoever brought his 'sister' to this planet was monitoring her with this, probably trying to use her to capture him too…but it's more than clear she had different plans."

"Do-does that mean that Waryum-san's species came to take away Kazuto-san?" asked the clearly worried young girl while gripping the bedsheets that had been given to them last night. "W-we can't let them do that!"

"And we won't. That weirdo…probably saved my life and that of several others that day at the post office. Plus he's not a bad friend and…and…" for a moment, the bespectacled girl trailed off, her gaze turning slightly glassy at the memory of his 'transformation' last night, the magnificence and sublimation of his abilities into a humanoid form…"…and that's reason enough to not let other aliens kidnap him, of course! And so, this thing is gonna help us balance the scales."

"Re-really? Can you actually make it work?" asked Keiko while looking hopefully at her best friend.

"I intend to do more than that, dear Keiko, even if I have to fry my brain looking over the notes I got from Waryum." bluntly replied Shino before she finally found what she had been looking for, a small depression on the bio-machine's 'belly' that, once pushed, made the strangely insect-like camera come to life, shaking several times as it flapped its damaged wings and caused the twin-tailed girl at her side to gasp. "After all, yesterday showed me I'm not even remotely close to being as 'prepared' as I would have liked. So, even if they don't have anything else as dangerous as that 'Mirai' under their sleeves…next time, I won't be caught off guard."

"…you know, I still remember the time when I would wake up and hearing something like that would make me think a lunatic spouting nonsense had sneaked into my home." grumbled Shiori as she rose from the futon where she had been trying (Or pretending) to continue sleeping. "Now, though, it seems perfectly normal…To think that helping out a noob in a videogame would take me to this point…"

"…does that mean you regret having met him?" calmly asked the bespectacled girl without even turning back, touching the bio-machine over its 'head' and letting it open, showing many organ-like components within.

"Like hell. Kii-bou is…well, I watched all of that yesterday and I'm still here, right?" replied the virtual Info Broker with a cheeky smile. "Maybe I'm not as brave as Yuuna-chi was, but…I still intend to see this through to the end."

"…I think that makes you really brave, Argo…no, Shiori-san!" smiled Keiko while her cat jumped on the bed and sat unnaturally still beside its owner, meowing its agreement.

"It means she has the guts for it, at least." grinned Shino as she extracted one of the small components, feeling it squirming slightly between her fingers as she raised it over her eyes before putting it back in place. "Now then, shall we go? I don't know about you, but I want to have a good breakfast if we are to plan how to rescue our disappeared alien researcher and how to counter probably an entire group of them willing to catch our resident freak of nature, and it seems the racket in the other room finally calmed down."

Those words declared, the bespectacled girl stood up and walked out of the room…with the bio camera moving after her on tiny insect-like legs, much to the other two's shock.

After a second of awed hesitation, the young girl followed after her 'boss'. Sighing, Shiori followed cue.

Almost an hour later, Kirigaya Midori was sighing, looking around her living room even as some of her 'guests' finished the rests of their breakfasts, deciding she wouldn't comment on them having come without finishing just because of how serious the situation it was.

Even if the sight of her adopted son trying to squeeze himself in the sofa between three girls, one of which was his daughter, and that they were being very bad at hiding. They were trying to lean on him or hold his hands as much as they could…

Yeah, she could probably save the headache about that for later. They had bigger problems now.

"So…you have a 'sister'. And she's here on the planet." mumbled the woman while massaging her head. "Probably brought here by fellow aliens of the same race of Waryum, very likely the very same ones that 'made' you into what you are…"

"Ye-yes mom…" commented the black-haired boy while looking away even as Suguha patted his shoulder. "Sorry for…"

"Don't apologize for anything, son. I'm just…glad you're okay. All of you." honestly declared Midori with a weak smile while looking down at the several news sites reporting about the incident in Isshiki Beach on her phone. "I just wish it hadn't turned out like this…"

"Tell us about it. I still can't believe we all survived that…" muttered Rika from where she was sitting, shivering slightly at the memory.

"And…are you sure this so-called 'Mirai' is not a threat anymore?"

"N-no…not after what I did to her, she shouldn't be a threat to anyone." whispered the boy while biting her lips, earning many worried looks. "I…didn't intend for it to be 'permanent', though. I was sure we could make her see reason after a while of forcing her to be 'human', but…I didn't think she would run away and that I would basically faint at the next instant…"

"Onii-chan, you did your best to try and help her, even didn't kill her when you could have, despite her not deserving it. She tried to kill us all…even to kill you there at the end. She almost did it to Yuuna!" reminded his adoptive sister while touching his head in the most soothing way she could. "It's not your fault how she reacted at the end."

"I know…but…I just…"

"Please, Onii-chan! I can't stand seeing you sad for what that m…!"

"Suguha, let him. Whatever happened, it's normal for him to feel bad when hurting someone else…that's just how he is, remember?" softly spoke Midori to her daughter, who fell silent immediately even as she refocused on the Lusus Naturae. "Is there any chance of her harming others even with what you did to her?"

"I mean…technically, she can still use a very small part of her abilities, like regenerating and maybe very minor shapeshifting…but it would cause her immense pain. And, eventually, kill her." clearly not liking that train of thought, Kazuto seemed relieved when Asuna squeezed his hand. "I'm pretty sure she's smart enough to know that, though, and I can revert it when I find her…if she's no longer willing to kill anyone, of course."

"Okay, let's put that on the back for now. On the more pressing issues…the government, or at least an agency that uses 'heavily armed men in dark clothes and others in dark suits with sunglasses', as Yuuki-chan and Aiko-chan explained it, attacked your apartment building last night while all 'this' happened." recalled Midori while looking at the Sleeping Knights, who nodded grimly after exchanging some glances.

"Yes. We aren't sure why exactly yet, but it looked messy. Kayaba-san left us right away, in fact, to try and know what had happened, as he legally owns the building, but we haven't heard back from him yet except to say a lot of 'politics bullshit' is giving him unclear answers." explained Si-eun while looking away. "…we have no idea if Waryum-san is okay either."

"So, in the best-case scenario he simply lost his phone and then got lost, and we will be hearing back from him in the next hours. Worst-case…the government has the alien that knows everything about my son." groaned Midori while looking to the ceiling. "Just great…well, glad they bought my excuse at work about a familial emergency. This is going to be a busy day…"

"Mom?"

"I'm going to need to get some more food and futons if they're going to be staying here for a while, after all…even if I will have to ask you to try and stay hidden." smiled the woman to the hybrids' shock, before her gaze turned to the other girls in the room, those that didn't have any of alien in them or lived there. "As for you all, young ladies, I would suggest you go back to your homes and try to calm down your parents as soon as possible. Things may get very weird or dangerous in the next few days depending on what exactly has happened, and we don't even know half of it."

Clearly, everyone in the room understood why she had said that, though some looked clearly more than a bit reluctant to simply leave like that.

They would end up doing so, though. Something both Kirigaya siblings could attest to was that, when it came down to it, their mother was one of the most convincing women present.

Still, while ideas about finding/rescuing Waryum were discussed and most of the girls prepared to reluctantly leave (After a minor freak-out from Midori at seeing Shino's new 'toy'), Kazuto couldn't help but feel weirdly apprehensive.

For some reason, despite almost everyone he cared for being safe there and feeling the encouraging shows of love from the girls he loved the most, a part of him felt as if something was terribly, horribly wrong…

* * *

 _"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."_ –Anonymous (Does this one even need any explanation?)

* * *

"…we're closing in on the target, lieutenant colonel. What should we do?"

At the agent's question, Seijirou Kikuoka couldn't help but grunt, the military uniform he was wearing feeling oddly heavy on his person as he adjusted his helmet.

He knew the necessity for them all, of course, especially when this was a few kilometers deep on the countryside and the sun was about to set, but that didn't change anything. There was a reason why he wasn't a field agent, after all, and it had been years since he went through the basic military training. He was a man whose actions for his country went by behind the scenes, supervising things or handling machines. Not out there with a weapon on hand.

Given the current situation, though…any precaution was little. And there was a chance whatever awaited for them here would give him something more solid to present to his superiors, who weren't exactly thrilled after the disaster of yesterday. Never mind the fact that not only had he uncovered a potential alien infiltration and/or invasion, the fact that 'Waryum' escaped right under their noses and the chaos in Isshiki Beach (A few kilometers south from there, actually) had put him on a very thin line.

Therefore…

"Move out. Let's get this over with."

"Affirmative. Squads 1 and 2, move out!"

With that declaration, several soldiers moved onwards, cutting quickly through the simple vegetation and the few trees, jumping over a small slope and readying their weapons…only to stop in confusion at what they found.

Certainly, when he came into view nearly a minute later, Kikuoka could say their confusion was understandable.

After all, he wasn't expecting to find a young man of grayish hair wearing tattered clothes and whistling a song with a melancholic look.

"…ah, finally. I was starting to wonder if anyone would ever show up, you know?" mumbled the young man without actually looking at them, the bespectacled man silently signaling for his man to keep aiming at him as he walked forward. "Nochizawa Eiji. I would say it's a pleasure, but…your expression clearly says otherwise."

"Lieutenant Colonel Seijirou Kikuoka. I assume you're responsible for the 'prank call' of yesterday, young man?"

"Please, don't give me that crap. We both know there wouldn't be a dozen military men aiming at me if you actually believed it was a 'prank call'." spat Eiji as he stood up, letting the surprised man see the many wounds that covered the holes in his clothes. "Still, I'm glad you were this fast…was starting to wonder if I would have to find a way of feeding the bitch or something, whatever that other monster did to her wasn't nice…"

"What…are you talking about?" carefully questioned the government official as he saw the ash-haired boy walking away from him, leaning down to grab…a crowbar stained with a strange black liquid.

The chuckle that came from Eiji upon hearing many fingers tightening around their weapons at his action told Kikuoka that the boy probably wasn't in a very stable state of mind, even as he walked forward, towards where a dead tree trunk could be seen on the ground…and violently slammed the crowbar down on the side he couldn't see from his current position.

More than one of the men present almost shot when a scream that was barely human followed, making them all tense and their officer in charge to look in shock as the clearly unstable young man raised the crowbar again, stained with more of that fresh black liquid.

"Say hello to one of the monsters of Isshiki Beach." simply declared Eiji before uncaringly rolling the tree trunk towards them, ignoring the pained scream and curses upon what sounded painfully like a bone breaking echoed through the clearing.

Seijirou Kikuoka looked down at what, at first glance, would have seemed like a young teenager with a clear condition of albinism tied up to the tree trunk by sturdy-looking ropes, and that would have made him and several others arrest the apparent kidnapper on sight…until one saw all the black blood staining most of her naked body, the way in which her broken arm bulged and restored itself…or how her eyes were two red slits upon golden sclera filled with black veins.

All the while, the mad-looking 'girl' was screaming, growling and shouting in pain, while also cursing and shaking.

"Killyou…damnyou…bastard…killyou…!" snarled Mirai as the agonic pain caused by regenerating and accidentally changing her eyes consumed her, her curses turning into whimpers as she slowly calmed down again.

"It…can't be." mumbled the bespectacled man with a mix of horror and fascination. "Shapeshifting…?"

"Don't let it fool you for even a moment. This was the bigger of those two abominations of yesterday. Blasted monsters hide in plain sight, looking like us." muttered Eiji while idly ramming the crowbar on the humanized alien experiment's side, making her scream again.

"…is there any reason why she hasn't killed you, then? Or why you're doing… _this_ to her?" questioned Kikuoka with a neutral tone.

"Her 'brother' didn't take it too well that she tried to kill him, so he left her stuck in this 'pitiful' human form." explained the ash-haired boy with a dead tone, his gaze seemingly lost in something as he stared at anything but Mirai whimpering form. "As for this? Monster tortured me for almost two days straight. Felt it was only karmic I returned the favor. Besides…bitch is very hard to kill, even like this. Regenerates from almost anything."

Looking once again over Eiji's wounds, Kikuoka nodded simply before gesturing to one of his men.

Without hesitation, the man shot three times, metallic hypodermic darts embedding themselves on Mirai's chest and neck.

Choking, the white-haired girl felt her world swimming, what little biomass she had left trying to fight off the lethal dosage of tranquilizers, something that would have been child's play for her body under normal circumstances now being nearly impossible. Utter pain wracked her once again, and she felt her world spinning and swaying.

"Brother…brother…" were the last words that escaped X-K0941's mouth before she fell unconscious.

"…can I ask why you called the emergency services and expected something like this to happen?" asked the government official even as several of his men rushed forward and got ready to secure and transport the 'target'. "And did you say she had a 'brother'?"

"I know enough of how the world works to know that someone who cared would be on the lookout for an explanation after what happened last night went viral on the Internet. Dr. Shigemura told me a lot about how information is controlled during his lessons…" mumbled Eiji as he watched Mirai being dragged away with a disturbing smile. "As for her brother? Yeah…he's the real monster. The biggest threat. And the reason why I called. I can tell you a lot of things about him…everything you need to know. I just want two things."

"And those are?"

"Take that monster down with whatever means you can…" as he said those words, the clearly unstable young man looked straight into Kikuoka's eyes, letting him see the hints of madness or at least a severe psychological issue forming deep within his gaze. "And let me help you do it."

"…that seems fair enough." evenly replied the bespectacled officer as he turned around. "Come along, then, Eiji-kun. We will get you medical attention and you can tell me everything on the way…"

Moral issues aside, taking advantage of a possibly insane young man wasn't important right now. Not with everything that had been revealed last night, and not with the unbelievable 'prize' that had been all but delivered to them in a silver platter.

Looking as Mirai's unmoving form was fully restrained and covered, black blood dripping down everywhere, Kikuoka Seijirou knew that, for the first time in almost 24 hours, luck had finally smiled on him.

The man walked forward, followed by the grief, fear and hate-consumed teen, unknowing of how his actions would bring down the Apocalypse…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Oh yeah, that happened…things are going to get bad. We have officially entered the last part of this story now, ladies and gentlemen. Get ready for the Horror…

On a more humorous note, there isn't really an 'Ultimate Move' of the 'Kirigaya Style' of kendo. The kids' grandfather was just asked for it and put a fancy name and an over-grandiloquent name to a move he was particularly good at, and never told them the truth…Lusus just actually turned it into one with his alien-BS :P

Back to the seriousness, Mirai got the short end of the stick in many ways (Lusus Kirito doesn't promote weaponizing deadly illnesses, everyone, unless there is literally no other option to not kill someone…as contradictory as that sounds!). Ironically, if she hadn't run off or just done so towards a place with enough people around, Eiji wouldn't have been able to basically doom everyone by catching her.

And yes, 'poor' guy has lost it, but in his defense, as little as I want to, the combination of Mirai's torture, Yuuna's reveal of being aware of Kazuto's nature, the Sleeping Knights and then the 'clash of monsters' weren't exactly the best mixes, especially as we all know he's very adept deep inside to blame everyone else for things that weren't their fault, especially when Yuuna is involved, and then go off the deep end about it (This is the guy that gleefully beat the shit out and broke the bones of Klein and his pals for something most of them _weren't even involved_ with in Canon). This time, though, the consequences are going to be way higher than they were in OS…

Also, as if the bad news weren't enough all around, Waryum has, unknowingly for our Earthly protagonists, taken the hardest and darkest decisions, ironically for their sake and that of the planet. He knows his fellow Tryums would blow up the Earth in the blink of an eye with little care after seeing what X-K0940 can do now and the potential of it going out of control in a planet with so much 'biological mass' available, he has seem some shit before working on Earth, so when having to choose between ending his 'nephew' and the entirety of humanity…well, you know what they say about the road to hell, right?

Only good thing our dear Lusus got out of all this, even if he doesn't know about all the bad, is absolute control over 'himself', but to what point is he willing to use that? And what will happen when something or someone pushes him over the edge now? We all saw what it did when Mirai pushed him before he even knew how to control himself, after all…

All those questions shall we answered later, though. For now, on a less grim note, have today's omake!

…or maybe it's not as less-grim as usual?

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 10: Within the Darkness**

Kotsubo Okuto wasn't someone you would call 'a decent human being', but he couldn't care less about it.

That he was, in fact, not human, probably had a lot to do with that. After all, the PE teacher of Youkai Academy was a Kraken, and he didn't really give a damn about humans.

Things had never been exactly 'easy' with his attitude, but he had managed to get a spot as a teacher in the arguably most known location for monsters worldwide, so he wasn't a dumbass by any means. Still, when he had let his baser nature take over and tried to molest Shirayuki Mizore back near the start of the school year, after she had confessed to have developed a crush on him, it was a clear sign that maybe he didn't think things straight.

It had hurt, made him angry and let him feeling bitter and pissed with the damn girl, but finding himself frozen for a couple of hours was only to be expected. After all, even if he was stronger physically, a Yuki-Onna's abilities were nothing to scoff as, even one as young as the lonely student. There was a reason why Snow Women's were so feared even in human legends, after all.

Even so, things have been noticeably 'well' for him after that. Because of her more than anti-social nature, Shirayuki hadn't spoken out against him at all, and she had stopped coming to class altogether, which let him easily spin a story about how the girl had attacked him unprovoked.

And all had seemingly been going smoothly in that regard…until the damned girl had suddenly started attending classes again, though completely ignoring his existence this time.

While that could be considered 'good', Okuto wasn't someone that wanted to take risks. Looking a bit into the girl, it hadn't been too hard to find her new object of fixation, nor had it been really a surprise.

After all, there was no one in Youkai Academy that didn't know about Kirigaya Kazuto of the Newspaper Club nowadays. Not after the debacle with Kuyou and his now disbanded group.

The mysterious monster whose species no one seemed to know anything about, who could easily best a 4-tailed Yoko without receiving any injuries. And that had been going around solving several matters and exposing unruly students or questionable teachers left and right since he came to the school.

For the PE teacher, it was almost a nightmare that Shirayuki had chosen him to try and get close to. If that damn boy got involved and the little Snow Woman bitch told him about what he had tried to do…

Of course, he had then calmed down and remembered that the purple-haired girl was quite 'creepy' beyond her good looks and body. It was just a matter of time before she tried to get close to the strange boy and, when he obviously rejected her (Especially if her obsessive nature made her aim for his friends, which he fiercely protected), her violent reaction and subsequent defeat would make it very easy for him to over-exaggerate things again and have her expelled.

Sadly for the man, things didn't go even remotely as planned. Not only had Kirigaya somehow managed to get through to Shirayuki, but he had also ended up forgiving the girl's crazy attempts against him. And now, he, followed by his very reluctant/distrusting friends, had headed towards the nearby cliffs beside the sea by the Snow Woman's request, where she would 'tell him everything'.

He had to act, and fast. It was very obvious what Shirayuki was going to tell them, and, after that, it was only a matter of time before he was apprehended. Okubo had to get out of there.

Except…that the Kraken's pride stopped him from just doing so. After all, he basically had to flee from his comfortable life like an animal because of one stupid girl? And he was supposed to just let it go?! Never! If he had to go, then he would make sure to drag Shirayuki with him. The Yuki-Onna would either learn to accept him or…she would pay the consequences of having messed with him.

As mentioned before, though, Okuto wasn't an idiot. He knew he would get destroyed if he tried to face Kirigaya directly, let alone that entourage of girls always following him around at the same time.

That's why he was currently climbing the cliff atop which he knew the group of teens was, in his true form, his four massive tentacles easily letting him grip over the slick rocks as he emerged from the sea. Even his clothes covered in the salty red water made him feel more at home rather than weighed down, for he was naturally an aquatic creature.

Arriving almost at the top, the man's hearing allowed him to catch the sound of Shirayuki finishing explaining her 'incident' with him and his subsequent actions, which had made her less open to trusting others. Despite their obvious dislike of the new and 'weird' girl, even the trio of Akashiya Moka, Kurono Kurumu and Sendou Yukari were clearly more than scandalized by his actions, nevermind how furious Kirigaya sounded as he suggested they should bring the matter to the headmaster himself, to the shock of a surprised and slightly grateful Shirayuki!

Well…that was about to end. Knowing that he wouldn't get them in a better chance, distracted as they were rambling, the kraken threw himself upwards with all the strength his tentacles allowed, before sending three of them forward while the last one shot towards the cliff's edge.

It all went just as he had planned. Barely reacting in the last second, the succubus was able to dodge and fly out of the way of his attack. The vampiress and the witch weren't so lucky, though, being violently 'slapped' away with twins screams of pain by a single limb, distracting the black-haired boy as he turned towards them with fear and worry.

And so, his third tentacle was already over the wide-eyed Shirayuki, wrapping around her just as the one on the cliff shoved him down, ready to drag her with him towards the depths of the ocean…

"I will drag you down with me, Shira…!"

"MIZORE-CHAN!"

A painful and violent twist was the first sign Okuto got of his plan going awry, before he found himself falling down, missing half a tentacle…and with Kirigaya Kazuto hanging from his half-severed limb, looking down furiously at him while the girls above screamed his name in a panic, the teacher catching a glimpse of Kurumu flying over the edge and diving down before the pain kicked in, making him scream…and notice how the Lusus Naturae's face morphed from fury into one of dawning horror.

Then, both of them crashed into the sea and sank like rocks, out of the succubus (And anyone else's) reach.

Quickly snapping out haze caused by the pain from having lost half a tentacle once he was back in 'his element'; Okuto quickly regained his bearings and prepared to quickly flee through the water. Any second now, Kirigaya could adopt that terrifying real form of his and tear him to pie…!

Staring in dumb shock, the PE teacher stopped dead in his tracks, floating there as he saw the last thing he had been expecting.

Not far from him, sinking as he clawed uselessly upwards and thrashed around, Kirigaya Kazuto clearly looked in a panicked stated, his eyes dilated in terror as they shifted from his real ones to those of his 'human' form, clearly struggling to keep his mouth closed and seeming more and more desperate every second.

He…he couldn't…? Oh Gods, this was just more than perfect!

Laughing like a madman, the kraken swam around the sinking teenager, who looked at him in something akin to despair and tried to say something, only to cover his mouth as his thrashing intensified, his oxygen clearly all but gone.

Like it was the most amusing thing in the world, the kraken hit him several times with his remaining tentacles, hoping that the meddling boy felt as much pain as he had before he drowned to death. To think that the most feared monster amongst the student body didn't know how to swim…it was probably the most hilarious thing he had ever seen. And also the luckiest to ever happen to him.

Sure, it wasn't Shirayuki, but the boy had more than earned to suffer for what he had done to his tentacle (Who knew how long it would take to regrow!). Also, those stupid girls would be too busy looking for his corpse to even think about him. Okuto would be far away from Youkai by the time they even remembered he exited.

Those gleeful thoughts filling him, the kraken enjoyed a few more moments of Kazuto's despairing gaze before his body finally went limp, his eyes closing as he sank into the depths, slowly vanishing from view.

Allowing himself a moment to bask in his unexpected victory, the former PE teacher let out another small chuckle, turning around in the direction he knew would bring him the closest to the barrier through the water before he had to climb and head for the tunnel…

When something grabbed one of his legs, painfully. Confused, Okuto looked down…and saw what looked like a deformed hand with teeth-like claws biting painfully on his foot, connected to a long tendril filled with sinister quills and mouths.

The man hadn't even been able to react when dozens of similar limbs shot upwards from the dark depths, biting into his tentacles, his arms, his chest and one even to one side of his head. Screaming in agonic pain that only came out as bubbles there underwater, the now terrified kraken thrashed around, trying to use his natural strength and advantage as an underwater predator…to no avail, as whatever nightmarish beast had caught him was simply way stronger.

A strange feeling that Okuto, being monster native from the depths, could easily recognize suddenly enveloped him, making his brain freeze before, against his better judgment, the man looked down.

The feeling of being 'sucked' grew stronger as the limbs…the _tongues_ kept dragging him down despite his desperate efforts, into a hellish maw filled with teeth arranged in circular patterns, like a worm from hell that was the size of a whale.

One last time, Okuto screamed, thrashing around and trying to get free, looking up and away from his grim nightmare as he tried in vain to reach upwards, feeling the maws starting to close around him…

…and Kirigaya Kazuto blinked, feeling like trash and shivering slightly, idly realizing he was lying in some dirty sand at the edge of an expanse that couldn't really be called a 'beach', at the foot of one of the many seaside cliffs surrounding Youkai Academy's terrains.

"What…where…?" the dripping wet (And naked) boy asked to no one before a familiar voice reached him just as a blue-haired blur tackled him from the sky.

"Kazuto! You're okay!" cried Kurumu while holding him as hard as she could, tears staining the relieved face of the Succubus. "Tha-thank the heavens! When you fell down and didn't come back out, I feared that…KYA!"

"You're asphyxiating him." simply declared Mizore while the other girl rolled on the sand, having had a small freezing breeze applied to her neck before she leaned down and hugged the boy herself, though much lighter than the other had done. "I'm so glad…that you're okay…"

"Mizore-chan…I just couldn't let him drag you down…" mumbled the Lusus Naturae while holding the side of his head. "Ugh…"

"There you are!" shouted Yukari as she and Moka came down through the slope that led to the secluded place, clearly unamused by how the other two physically fitter monsters had left them behind. "Kazuto-san! Are you okay?! Where is that bastard?! I will drop this cliff down on him to teach him what's good!"

"I-I doubt you can actually do that, Yukari-san…" muttered the pink-haired vampire before quickly hurrying to the boy's side and putting a hand on his cheek, ignoring the pointed way in which Mizore looked at her at the action. "A-are you really okay, Kazuto?"

"Ye-yes…I think so…ah!" gasped the boy at seeing the girl wince slightly upon touching his wet cheek. "Mo-Moka, you shouldn't touch me while I'm still like this!"

 _"You're the one who jumped down a cliff into the ocean for someone that tried to attack you not even an hour before that when you don't know how to swim, idiot!"_ came the annoyed voice of Inner Moka from the rosary on her counterpart's neck, though one could almost detect a small hint of relief under her anger. " _Don't go trying to tell her what to do after that! And what happened to that damned kraken?!"_

"I…I don't know." accepted the Lusus Naturae while looking away, clearly confused, much to the girls' worry. "I…remember sinking and starting to faint because I couldn't breathe and that he was hitting me…but then I woke up here."

"Maybe that bastard thought you died and escaped, then you were brought here by the currents?" ventured Kurumu after recovering from the Snow Woman's underhanded tactic, glaring at her for a moment before refocusing on her Destined One. "W-we can't let him get away with that, not after almost killing you!"

"She's right. Kotsubo-sensei went too far." spoke Mizore with a glacial tone, though it was obvious all the girls around her shared the same opinion. "Let's report this to the headmaster as you said. We can't let him escape!"

"Yo-you're right, we should do that, he could still be a danger to someone else. But…" slightly embarrassed, Kazuto scratched his head and looked away, making the girls blink in confusion. "Could you let me transform a bit first? Whatever happened down there, it seems I lost yet another uniform and I want to get away from the damn water as fast as I can to…girls?"

No one really answered to his last question, as the females present had suddenly become very aware of his nudity, the worry and anger that had been overriding their brains moving to a secondary plane as they STARED.

Moka went bright red and started to stutter, frozen in place, but the other three simply kept staring shamelessly. Kurumu and Yukari developed slightly disturbing smiles, though Mizore's lack of reaction beyond a subtle blush and subtly licking her lips was probably even more so.

Kazuto simply blinked in confused awkwardness.

Hours later, back in his dorm room, the worried Lusus Naturae would wonder if the staff currently looking for the escaped PE teacher would find him, wishing he could have gone with them. Idly, he looked towards his phone, at the other side of the room, and reached towards it with a tentacle, deciding he would send an email to his family and friends outside a bit earlier than usual…only to blink when the phone stuff to the tendril before he even enveloped it, easily being brought to his side.

Uh…that was weird. He hadn't willed his tentacle to grow suckers. Why had it done so by instinct…?

 _Meanwhile_ …Kotsubo Okuto swam through the darkness, disoriented, feeling broken, sick, but also knowing he had to be close to the exit from whatever hellish place he had ended at. Just vaguely wondering why he felt as if he was swimming through some thick gelatin instead of water, the former teacher finally felt himself reaching the 'surface'…

And his half-melted 'body' emerged from a sea of flesh and blood, into a never-ending nightmare with a bloody sky filled with bleeding stars. Incomprehension filling him, the kraken finally realized that…he wasn't 'emerging' from the 'sea'…because he had no body at all to do so.

Part of the flesh had just deformed to form a semblance to it when he had 'reached up'.

Then…the countless whispers that he had been trying to ignore became louder than ever, coming from all around him, from the sea of flesh itself, voiced that he somehow understood despite none of them using words and some not even sounds at all. A cacophony straight out of a madman's nightmare…repeating a single thing.

 ** _"[One of us. One of us. One of us…]"_**

Screaming louder than ever, Okuto tried to reach out, his last thoughts as a single thinking entity being of horror, madness, and pain. Then, tendrils that hilariously looked like his own reached out and sank him once again into the blood and flesh, his thoughts ceasing to be his own forevermore.

Back in his bed of Youkai Academy, Kirigaya Kazuto slept with his phone at his side, several worried answers from his family to his messages slowly filling its screen.

A completely innocent never left his face through the night, even as he dreamed of bleeding stars that were not stars for the first time in very long…

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** Cue nightmare fuel music.

Once again bring up something I have done in several of the previous Omakes, Rosario+Vampire is quite a surprising series in many ways, especially on its first part, because of how much 'deeper' it is than at first sight.

Even the 'villains of the week' format filled with comedy tones all around is way scarier than one may think when one thinks back and realizes how willingly most of this, in the long run, unimportant antagonists were willing to murder several underage students, or worse. Hell, Miss Art Teacher arguably was dealing a Fate Worse than Death to the girls she turned into statues and would have continued doing so unimpeded had she not crossed paths with the main characters. For a school supposedly made for the coexistence of the monsters among humankind and ran by one of the 3 most powerful monsters in history, a lot of its teaching staff was beyond nightmarish during Tsukune's first year.

Here, everyone's less favorite PE teacher meets a…very messy end, one that no one will probably ever be aware of. Remember, as more than one seems to have forgotten (Though with how big of a hiatus this story had 'cause of my work I don't blame you), that these Omakes are basically an AU from the main story since little before Lusus-kun entered High School, so everything that happened after that hasn't happened here. Most relevant for this chapter is that Kazuto hasn't taken control of his true nature yet…

But well, scary things aside, that's another chapter of his weird 'school life' closed. Next time, his first school club trip takes quite an unexpected turn~but before that, back to work on OPG!

Seeya all next time! This is Saint, signing off!


	16. Chapter 14: The Corner of your Eyes

Hello, dear readers! Here we are again, with another chapter of the weirdest Kirito around and his weird and disturbing adventures!

First of all, I want to start by saying that I was surprised, in a positive way, upon seeing the reactions to the latest chapter and how negatively so many took what happened to Mirai. Despite her character not having been actually around and/or in a direct interaction with the cast that much, beyond trying to horribly kill them all except Kazuto without care, a lot of people empathized with her well enough to feel horrified/triggered/angry at what happened to her. I take this as a sign that I'm growing as a writer, especially given I'm someone who doesn't like using OCs unless there is no other option or they serve a specific purpose in a story. Worry not, though, what shall happen later with Lusus-kun's biological 'sister' probably will please most of you…

We're still not there, though, so for now I want to leave you all with the latest chapter. Enjoy it! And always remember, help with this story's TvTropes page is greatly appreciated :3!

 **PS:** Chapter betaed by Pikatwins! Thanks as always, my friend :3!

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Out of the Corner of your Eyes…**

 **January 10th, 2024. Classified Location, Sea of Japan. 07:30…**

The half-constructed facility in the middle of the ocean still does not a clearly defined shape. Nor a name yet, for that matter.

However, given what was taking place on its core, none of that really mattered.

Several labs were occupied by personnel that hadn't been supposed to be assigned there until literally a day ago. More than one scientist tried to decipher what they were working with, frustration very clear on their faces. Several ones groaned or simply looked disappointed as a piece of pulsating black flesh all but evaporated, seemingly having rotted into dust in seconds once exposed to a strange liquid.

And once again, none of that mattered, or at least not for the young man standing before an observation room, his face all but glued to the reinforced glass window separating him from the bizarre-looking room he was intently watching.

Within, a big machine lay, covering most of the head of a certain white-haired 'girl', completely naked. What was more bizarre, though, were the countless restraints of reinforced steel that the bed-like support possessed, binding her arms, legs, neck, and torso, clearly meant to keep her in place rather than provide any comfort. And, as if the visage wasn't already sinister enough, several hypodermic needles, the size of which would make people doubt they were ever intended to be used on humans, pierced into her body at seemingly random places, connected to many different machines that were clearly keeping watch over things that the main machine couldn't…and, if prompted, draining her blood.

Never letting his gaze leave Mirai's inert body, Nochizawa Eiji barely acknowledged the incoming footsteps, even after Seijirou Kikuoka had stopped at his side with crossed arms, giving the silent young man a glance before also looking towards his abnormal 'prisoner'.

Silence reigned in the hallway except for what sounds could be heard from the machines within the room before the bespectacled man finally broke it.

"I thought I had already told you that you couldn't go around the facility unsupervised?"

"Why? We're in a half-constructed base in the middle of the sea and you took my phone, it's not as if I'm going to run away or talk with anyone I shouldn't. Not to mention the high-end cameras on every corner." replied Eiji while idly pointing towards one such camera, on the ceiling just behind them. "…just what the hell is that thing you put IT in supposed to be?"

"That 'thing' is the only reason I'm still in charge of this operation despite it having gone wildly beyond my area of expertise. And a solution my superiors were very glad to get after she woke up and almost killed her two guards while en route to this place." clarified Kikuoka while adjusting his glasses. "It's a modified FullDive machine created using a medical prototype called Medicuboid as base. I have decided on the temporary name 'Mind Cage' until official development is fully handled."

"… _that's_ a FullDive machine?" muttered the young man with something akin to disbelief, finally looking away from the unmoving alien to stare at his new 'boss' with incredulity. "It's nothing like the Nerve Gears at all…"

"Indeed. The size of the base prototype was supposed to be just because it always had a lot of systems to aid giving a full medical monitoring of the patient inside…but I personally think they're also proof that Kayaba Akihiko changed the design of his Nerve Gear at some point for some unknown reason. After all, the technology within the helmet-like part from which the rest of it 'sprouts' is uncannily like an NG's, just much more 'immersive'." explained the bespectacled man while pointing to the point where most of Mirai's head vanished inside the machine. "We simply took the design apart and 'enhanced' all the systems that blocked external stimuli from the brain as much as we could, then modified the software to suit our needs."

"…which are?" drawled Eiji while looking back at the monster in human form without an ounce of care.

"Complete 'mental' imprisonment, as the name suggests." replied Kikuoka as if it was the most normal thing in the world, the light from the hallway's artificial illumination reflecting on his glasses in an almost ominous way. "See, when FullDive technology was first announced, I had a vision…I realized it could have an incredible application for military purposes, which could revolutionize the world."

"…sounds interesting, even if probably not as obvious as many would think." nonchalantly answered the young man without taking his eyes off the white-haired 'girl'. "But I'm going to guess it didn't go as easy as you would have expected, given your tone?"

"…sadly, no. Since the Nerve Gear's release, Kayaba Akihiko seems to have been making sure to pour all the resources he has obtained from it and Sword Art Online into making his technology and everything that comes from it to be as 'safe' and monitored as possible. Hell, the only reason we were able to take the Medicuboid prototype was that it was under an official investigation indirectly related to this whole mess." clearly frustrated at the memories, the bespectacled man's face morphed from his distraught expression to something akin to wonder as he looked back. "But then again, other applications had been discarded that suddenly became much more viable in this bizarre situation of ours. For example, can you see how 'dangerous' this machine could be, without the safeties of the current Nerve Gear?"

"Dangerous…?" whispered Eiji with narrowed eyes.

"To put it simply, if they didn't have an Interface, any user would be effectively 'trapped' within the virtual world until the battery dies. And by having it connected to an outside energy source, that time essentially becomes indefinite as long as the machine and the 'prisoner' are kept safe." finally revealed Kikuoka with something akin to wonder. "Essentially prisoners of their own body, that can be kept restrained or 'interrogated' without actually violating any laws. After all, you aren't _really_ hurting them. And, in this case, to keep our little friend here docile enough so that we can extract as many samples as we need without her retaliating because her 'current form' is ,thankfully, 'human-like' enough for it."

"Prisoner inside VR…talk about a scary concept. And you basically turned that up to eleven for this thing…" mumbled the ash-haired young man while leaning against the security glass, a disturbing smile appearing on his face. "She's trapped and unable to access her body, unable to 'wake up', while you do whatever you want with her body."

"…essentially, yes. And given the number of biologists, cryptozoologists and other similar scientists that were brought for this (And as many they're getting frustrated over), the effectiveness and simplicity of this solution astounded my superiors. I may actually get an even bigger promotion than I already was going to get by 'possibly preventing an alien invasion'." snorted the bespectacled man with clear disdain.

"Huh…shouldn't you be happy about that?" questioned Eiji without even looking at him.

"I know I haven't actually stopped anything yet, Eiji-kun. And I directed a full tactical operation that was evaded effortlessly by _one_ of these aliens the moment we apparently had him cornered, only to later see he apparently was the least dangerous of the bunch." Kikuoka's clearly bitter tone finally made the young man turn to look at him once again, an eyebrow raised. "My only concern is to protect this country, not getting any promotions. And for that we need to know what these things are, what makes them think, what are their weaknesses…and if we can somehow use them as weapons against their own kind."

"Then we're in agreement in how little we care for this monster, at least. Even if I'm not as…'patriotic' as you." snorted Eiji before turning again to look back towards Mirai's trapped body. "I just want to see these monsters dead."

"Indeed…even if I don't share your clearly questionable enjoyment of our little specimen's current state, I couldn't care less about her…'its' life. After all, if it keeps even a single human life safe, I would do the same to a thousand of them." calmly replied the government official without any care. "…even if it keeps getting frustrating how fast the samples we get from her keep 'dying' after a certain stimulation. Whatever this 'virus' you mentioned is, while it certainly seems harmless for us, it's making it extremely hard to study her biology, from what I'm told…"

"…he said he rewrote it only to affect _their_ DNA when it was active…" muttered Eiji with a sudden thoughtful look. "But…what if…what if it he only made it so thinking it would be in her? What if it was in someone else…someone actually human…?"

"…I'm not entirely sure of what half of what you just said means, but I'm sure it's stupidly dangerous." interrupted Kikuoka with narrowed eyes. "Not to mention borderline suicidal, by the sound of it."

"…maybe…or maybe I just found a way to both solve your issues and let me fulfill the reason I'm helping you for in the first place." retorted the ash-haired young man with an unnerving smile that reminded the bespectacled man he _should_ probably have gotten him psychiatric help the moment he got him under his custody…except he hadn't. "And I even have something that may go perfectly with this 'experiment'…you know my old boss, Dr. Shigemura?"

"…you mean Shigemura Tetsuhiro, the once teacher of Kayaba Akihiko?" asked the government official with an intrigued tone. "What of him?"

"On his personal computer's files at the Touto Institute of Technology, there should be some schematics I helped him develop as a 'hobby' during our free time, nothing but a passing interest, but that I'm sure you will find very interesting, and I'm sure your friends from the military would love to improve on." cheerfully replied Eiji, as if he had not a care in the world. "A certain 'suit' that could be helpful for this."

"…tell me a bit more about this 'suit' you speak of…and I will see what I can do about it." dryly spoke the bespectacled man with an unimpressed look, though it was clear by his tone that he was intrigued.

And just as the probably unstable young man started explaining things in detail while walking away…Seijirou Kikuoka saw _something_.

Something strange and unnatural, just out of the corner of his eyes, _watching_ him…

Head snapping back, the government official blinked, absolutely nothing on the hallway behind him or Eiji. Gaze moving back to the room, nothing showed that the specimen within had moved or reacted in any way.

And yet, he couldn't shake that unsettling feeling as he walked away. That he was missing something terribly important.

Ironically, similar thoughts filled the mind of the creature that called 'herself' Mirai, even as she stared at her hands with unblinking eyes.

Those weren't really her hands, though. Nor was this body she was clearly seeing and feeling. Nor were the simple white clothes she was wearing which she had found herself unable to take off.

None of it was real. Even that never-ending white space where she now sat was fake.

She knew it well, because, upon 'waking up' there, she had screamed, roared and shouted in rage and frustration, ran everywhere and rammed her fists on the spotless ground, slammed against the invisible walls of the 'area' somewhere in the distance, until she finally realized the strange and surreal feelings she was experiencing.

First of all…there was no pain. None.

Even that unnerving feeling she had always had ever since she adopted her 'human disguise' not long ago, that of feeling as if her real self wanted nothing more than to burst out of the small and constraining shell (And that recently had been joined by the ugly one of her brother's virus reminding her not to do exactly that), was totally gone. And that was what truly hade let her realize the 'reality', or lack thereof, of her surroundings.

Whatever this bizarre place was, it wasn't real. It was some sort of construct, some sort of prison, but one a million times more effective than any cage the many-eyed fools had kept her in before. One where she couldn't escape from…because she couldn't even reach her actual body to do so.

"This…is all in my mind…" whispered the white-haired alien experiment as she clenched her fists as hard as she could. "It's not real. Just an illusion…a fake. I will…escape. If I concentrate…hard enough…I should be able to…reach my body…!"

With that declaration, Mirai growled and closed her eyes, concentrating.

It only took her 2 hours to start sobbing, hugging herself as she stared with eyes unable to not cry at the empty whiteness around her.

Trapped. Alone.

Was this…how being scared felt? Strange…she hadn't felt anything similar since back when they took her brother away from her. Only that it had been mixed with anger, hate, and rage combined as she lashed out at her prison.

This time, though, there was nothing she could do, lashing out being clearly useless, and there was just that dark and ugly feeling, no rage left in her tired and _way too human to her liking_ consciousness.

She wanted out. She wanted freedom. She wanted…she wanted…

She wanted her brother to save her. To tell her everything would be okay. To…to let her be at his side again…e-even if…even it meant having to accept the unthinkable madness that those _humans_ could also stand with him as equals in his eyes…

For the first time in her relatively long existence, X-K0941 knew what feeling inferior was. How truly empty loneliness could be. How much being scared hurt.

And once again, the ancient alien abomination with the body of a teenager and the emotional development of a little human girl cried, rocking back and forth as she hugged her legs.

"Brother…help…"

Out of the corner of her eyes, something flickered. Something _unnatural_ in that ever-lasting white-space.

Mirai was too busy sobbing to notice it, though. And outside, even as a couple of scientists extracted another piece of her flesh from part of her arm, seeing with disgusted fascination as the black blood and flesh slowly mended themselves back together and closed the wound, the lights flickered for an instant through the entire facility.

Nothing strange was truly noticed, though…

* * *

 _"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."_ –Socrates (Because understanding is always lacking…).

* * *

Kayaba Akihiko groaned as he ended a call for what felt like the hundredth time in the last 48 hours after getting absolutely no satisfactory answers.

Honestly, this was starting to be more than a little bit frustrating, not to mention scaring the father of FullDive Technology quite a bit. At this point, it was very clear that someone high up in the government had to know something about the detail that they weren't exactly alone in the Universe and that 'visitors' had been living on their planet for some time. It was the only explanation as to why, despite having pulled the full weight of his influence and money, he had still been led around with false information and bureaucracy, not to mention how heavily encrypted and secret everything regarding HIS building (That had been housing Waryum and the Sleeping Knights) was being kept in the official databases.

It was easy for him to see and verify such things, though. With the Cardinal System backing him up, obtaining all that data had been easy. Problem was, and Cardinal had been quite clear in telling him the specifics, that if he wanted to know more the System's attempts at obtaining the information would no doubt be detected. Oh, no one would be able to stop it anyway, true, that was something he knew very well given what his original plans for it had been, but certain people would right away trace the unstoppable hack back to the SAO Servers, and, by proxy, to him.

That was something he couldn't risk, though. Because, unlike who he was before a certain bizarre boy appeared out of nowhere in his lab one day, Akihiko was now someone who had a lot to live for that he wanted to keep as much as he could. And even…

"Aki-kun? Are you still there?" came a familiar voice from behind the man, making him smile softly as he looked back to see the worried visage of a woman with dark, though slightly 'greenish', hair looking at him.

Without him needing to say anything, Koujiro Rinko walked to his side and hugged him, the scientist relishing on the warmth for a moment as he closed his eyes.

And to think there was a time when he had thought his dream was worth forever renouncing to this…

"…thanks, Rinko."

"It's okay, Aki-kun…are those idiots still not saying anything about that whole deal with that apartment building you had bought?" questioned the woman with a clear frown. "Honestly, I can't believe they're giving you that much trouble…do they even know who they're messing with?"

"Heh, don't say that as if I'm some sort of omnipotent being, Rinko. Fame and influence for my accomplishments and discoveries aside, I'm still just your average citizen." waved off Akihiko with a smile that looked just annoyed enough for her to not think he didn't mean it. "It's frustrating, but there is not much else I could do."

In the end, he may love the beautiful and brilliant woman at his side, but there were some things he couldn't exactly tell her, entirely for her sake. Beyond how insane bringing up the 'small deal' about aliens would have been at any point in the past, the current situation just guaranteed that a noticeable level of danger was very likely involved.

The creator of FullDive technology didn't know what whoever had tried (And maybe succeeded) to catch Waryum knew, after all. Or what they _thought_ they knew, which could be much more dangerous than the truth depending on what ideas they had formed for themselves. Especially after the disastrous clash between Kazuto and his 'sister' on the beach had gone viral on the internet.

Of course, the entire world wasn't screaming about alien monsters yet because of the obvious disbelief and the countless attempts to pass it as a scam or a publicity stunt, but the fact that there had been actual witnesses close enough to the area to see both unholy 'siblings' fighting, nevermind his friend's terrifying transformation…

"Uhm, Kayaba-san?" suddenly called a familiar voice from behind the couple, making them blink and turn around to see the guard always assigned to contact Akihiko's lab in case of an 'emergency' standing there. "Ah…sorry to disturb you, but I thought you should know there is a pair of teenagers outside that are asking to speak with you saying they bring you info about something called 'Lusus Naturae'. And no, not of them is Kirito-san or Yuuna-san."

"Oh…thanks for that, Hiro. Please, send them in." sighed the man with a resigned smile, even as Rinko looked amused his way.

After all, the woman _did_ know about 'Kirito'…or at least about the weird boy that liked sneaking into his lab to talk to him, as she had met him a couple times in the past, and that she probably suspected was the reason of his quite obvious change in attitude during the last year.

She liked teasing him about how he had a soft spot for younglings now, especially after she knew Yuuna also sometimes came to visit him, though mainly to meet up with Kazuto or when they actually agreed to meet there (As if it wasn't _his private lab_ ). Rinko found it quite endearing.

If that was an indirect about something else, though, Akihiko wasn't really sure how to react to it. After all, while he had developed a soft spot for Yuuna and Kazuto, he wasn't sure yet…if he would be able to actually have a _family_ himself.

Ask him about the impossibly complex feats of creating the virtual world and the Cardinal System and he could go on about them for hours. Ask him what he thought about having children, though? To say that the father of FullDive technology was left with his mind blank was being generous.

Still, those were sadly (Or thankfully depending on who you asked) thoughts that had to be left for later. Namely, when there wasn't a dangerous crisis involving aliens and the government threatening to swallow their lives.

And right now that meant turning around as his lab's door opened once more and face Ayano Keiko and Asada Shino, one carrying her sharp-eyed cat and the other having…two crows on her shoulders. And a very weird backpack that looked like some expensive toy someone would buy for Halloween.

Even as she felt Rinko blinking in surprised confusion at her side, Akihiko barely suppressed the urge to facepalm. Didn't these girls get the meaning of 'subtlety' at all?

"Good evening, Kayaba-sa…oh? Forgive us, we didn't know you were accompanied." greeted Shino while giving the woman in the room a soft smile, extending her hand and acting as if she didn't have two oddly focused black birds perched on her shoulders. "Asada Shino, it's a pleasure."

"Ko-Koujiro Rinko, charmed." answered her while shaking the offered hand, her eyes never leaving the silent form of her crows. "You must be friends with Kazuto-kun or Yuuna-chan, I assume…?"

"Oh, you're Kayaba-san's girlfriend! Kazuto-san has told us a lot about you; you're way prettier than I thought!" cheerfully gushed Keiko while walking forward and bowing slightly to the blinking Rinko. "I'm Ayano Keiko and yes, we're friends with Kazuto-san! Yuuna-san…well, we're a bit better nowadays, but she and the rest didn't like us that much at the beginning…"

"We-well, that sometimes happens, you know? You can't get along with literally everyone you meet right away." awkwardly replied the woman with a small smile, wondering if the quite obvious crush the idol-aspirant had on the black-haired boy was the cause of her dislike for the two girls there.

But wait, that wouldn't explain why, apparently, the rest of Kazuto's friends didn't like them…

"Anyway…Kayaba-san? We just came to leave you this." calmly spoke Shino while walking towards the man and handing him a simple-looking USB pen drive. "It's for project Lusus Naturae, just as Kazuto asked me. We got a lot of information that you may be interested in looking over for that."

Akihiko nodded softly, his face never betraying anything, even as Rinko tilted her head in confusion, half-distracted by Keiko's talk about random and seemingly meaningless things any girl her age would be interested in, wondering what had just been handed to her boyfriend, the words exchanged making no sense to her.

Was it for some sort of videogame or something? If Kazuto was involved, maybe it was, but…

"I see. Thanks for taking the trouble of bringing this here, Shino-kun, Keiko-chan. Do you need me to call someone to…?"

"Oh no, it's not a problem, we got our own transportation, Kayaba-san!" cheerfully replied the twin-tailed girl with another bright and innocent smile, even if her words made Akihiko twitch slightly while the crows on the bespectacled teen's shoulders cawed as one.

"Yes, as Keiko said, we can get back home no problem. Plus, we still need to check up on some things, and I'm still testing out all the things my new backpack can do." happily added Shino while motioning to the strange object she was carrying.

"You know, I was wondering about that thing…is it some sort of toy or cosplay accessory?" questioned Rinko with a raised eyebrow.

"Something like that, but it's also very helpful for our 'investigation work'." replied the bespectacled girl with a small chuckle while patting the strange backpack she carried. "It's an exclusive Tryum brand. Kazuto himself was kind enough to help me get it to do what I wanted."

Once again, the woman arched an eyebrow with clear confusion, feeling as if she was missing something on the seemingly innocent conversation. Behind her, the father of FullDive technology chocked on air, his gaze suddenly focused on the strange 'backpack', finally noticing its very subtle insect-like and… _organic_ appearance.

Gods above, had Kazuto actually gone and modified that piece of alien tech the crazy girl recovered because she asked him to?! No, of course he had, this was the Kamen Rider-fanatic and child-like alien experiment he was talking about. Still, how could anyone think that having Asada Shino going around unsupervised with actual alien tech was a good idea?! Who knew what kind of chaos that could cause, especially now that they needed to be as discreet as possi…!

"Woah, is it this late already?! We took longer than I thought to get here!" gasped Keiko after apparently checking her phone, bowing in apology to the two adults. "Sorry, Koujiro-san, Kayaba-san, we need to finish our investigation and go back home soon! I gotta feed Pina before it gets too hungry, after all!"

"Heh, we wouldn't want the little one to be hungry, eh? Plus, I told Suguha-san that I would get Huginn and Muninn back before the evening." added Shino while scratching one of the crows under the head, making it caw happily. "Anyway, thanks for your time again. Have a pleasant evening!"

"Li-likewise…" waved Rinko as the two smiling girls exited the lab, feeling oddly relieved when they did. "…Kazuto-kun has quite a few quirky friends, doesn't he?"

"…you could say that. And yet, none is 'quirkier' than him." sighed Akihiko while putting the pen drive away, already knowing the woman would ask him about it and all the 'code words' the bespectacled girl had purposefully used to let him know they had been investigating about their current bizarre problems and apparently stumbled upon something, probably with the help of the Sleeping Knights.

Hiding the truth from Rinko would be easy, even if it would leave a bad taste in his mouth (Despite it being for her sake). What really worried him, though, was not knowing exactly what Kazuto and the others may be up to now.

Looking at the man she loved with worry upon seeing his pensive face, Koujiro Rinko opened her mouth…before freezing on the spot, head swiveling to the opposite side of the lab.

There was nothing there. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

Even if, for a moment, she could have sworn there had been. Something that didn't belong, something bizarre she couldn't properly name.

And she had seen it, for an instant, just…out of the corner of her eyes.

* * *

 _"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans_."–John Lennon (But what if those plans are for your life to even be possible?).

* * *

Kashiwazaka Hiyori had thought that, after getting into High School, she would look forward to unexpected free days more than the actual classes.

However, as she walked alone through the bustling streets of Kawagoe's center with a pensive look on her face, the young girl in school uniform couldn't help but realize how sad it _actually_ made her feel.

Didn't help that she apparently was _the only_ student that hadn't received the last-minute email to warn the students about this, and that she had missed the subsequent call for the same reason because she didn't realize her phone was out of charge until she had arrived and found the school gates closed.

That seemed to be the history of her life, though. After all, since she had memory, the girl had been 'clumsy' in a slightly scary sort of way. It was surprising the number of ways in which she could trip or screw-up something seemingly simple.

The only reason she had never thought anything along the lines of "I'm cursed" or so was because her peculiar trait only seemed to apply to meaningless or overall harmless things. Embarrassing, for sure, but nothing life-threatening had ever happened to her because of it, at least.

Still, that had made getting friends noticeably harder the more she grew up. Grade-schoolers may find funny to have a friend that could manage to trip over her own feet and flip her skirt when too flustered, but it started to turn a bit meaner in Middle School. Hiyori had _known_ it only would get worse when she finally got to High School…but it didn't.

All thanks to the fact that she ended up befriending the only student probably considered not only 'weirder' than her, but that no one dared to mess up, with for some unknown reason.

Everyone at their school seemed to be strangely wary of Kirigaya Kazuto, after all, but, for the life of her, she couldn't figure why. Sure, he was a bit odd, and the girl of silvery hair knew he somehow seemed more innocent than any boy his age had any right to be, but he was a very caring and loving person inside.

Maybe it had to do with how he had just been confused that one time a boy from an upper year tried to bully him? Sure, apparently, he had a bad rep about being the 'toughest' in the school, but he hadn't seemed that terrifying to her when he had come and demanded Kazuto's lunch money while they were talking about their sporadic activities at the music club. The 3rd year's face when the confused black-haired freshman had just told him that he didn't have any because his little sister always prepared him a loving lunch in the mornings had been kinda funny, though. Even if he had proceeded to punch Kazuto's without warning.

Then, the boy had been on the ground, howling in pain and screaming about having punched a steel wall even as both she and her only close friend in the school panicked. The weird boy had then proceeded to easily lift the older student, hung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and run while telling him he would get him to the Nurses Office in no time. Which was at the opposite side of the building from where they had been.

…come to think of it, yeah, maybe seeing the weird freshman carrying the supposedly scariest boy around while he cried and held his hand in evident pain through half the school was part of the reason why people were wary of Kazuto. Which was stupid, because Hiyori knew the boy wouldn't hurt a fly. In fact, she doubted there was anything that could make him angry at all…

Huh…she was…thinking about Kirito a whole lot right now, wasn't she? Which was…weird? Sure, he was her only 'real' friend in High School (Girls in her class were polite with her lately and didn't bring up her clumsiness, but she suspected it was only because they were afraid of him…or thought he was cute), but surely she had a lot of things to look forward to rather than being at school with him?

…oh. The-they weren't, were they? Gods, she either needed a hobby (One that didn't need her to do anything that could involve things getting broken if possible) or start hanging out with him outside school…wait, no, hadn't she just thought that the problem was that she did nothing but spend time with him? Well, not nothing, she had fun at home doing homework, helping her mom around, watching some anime that she knew Kazuto would be able to talk with her abou…

…when did her life start revolving around him?! This…this was strange. Hiyori didn't know what to think about this and, as such, stopped walking right that moment, blinking.

So…she either had developed an unhealthy dependence on her new friend…or she had a serious crush on him.

The silvery-haired girl didn't know if it was good or bad that she couldn't tell which one was true. Sure, she liked Kazuto a lot, he was probably the best friend she had in a long time and he understood her very well, but…there was always this 'something' strange about him, like that first time she met him and how he somehow had gotten from the school's rooftop to her side before the gates in less than 5 seconds. And every time they were alone she couldn't help but feel as if there was something ominous and deep there with them.

Some may have said she was just paranoid, but Hiyori had long-since known that she had very sharp 'instincts', so to speak, almost like they were a tradeoff for her chronic clumsiness, and they were always on edge when around her strange friend, even if her mind and heart were sure he would never harm her at all.

Which came down to the single fact that she knew Kazuto was her 'friend', but she wasn't sure if she could feel anything deeper for him because some weird 'feeling' seemed to make her think he was something dark and dangerous. Which was crazy and maybe meant she was going crazy and…why couldn't she stop thinking about all these random things that all circled back to hi…?!

"…Hiyori? Is that you?"

"WAAAAH! Ka-Kazuto?!" all but screamed the wide-eyed girl as she spun around, coming face to face with the boy that had been the main focus of her thoughts for the last thirty minutes. "Di-did you forget there weren't classes today t…?! Huh…are you okay?"

Any worried or flustered thoughts Hiyori may have had were quickly swept away upon noticing how…'tired' he looked. As in, his usual smile looked unusually dim and his eyes looked droopy, as if he was about to fall asleep on the spot.

To see the unusually boundlessly happy and hyperactive Kirigaya Kazuto looking like that was something beyond bizarre, freaky, for the silvery-haired girl.

"Uaaah…ye-yeah, I'm okay, I just…didn't get much sleep these last days." waved it off the black-haired boy while rubbing one of his eyes. "Some…things, happened, and we have been stressed out at home. A friend of the family went away without warning and…I had some familial problems…"

"E-eh? But I thought you loved your family without any problems despite…?" falling silent upon realizing what she almost said, Hiyori feared for a moment that she had mentioned something insensitive, only for her friend to reassure her with a tired chuckle.

"Yeah, no, being adopted was never a problem for me as I told you…but that's kinda what caused this, I guess. Turns out…my biological sister showed up without warning and we had a…disagreement, you could say."

"What?! Yo-your biological sister…showed up all of a sudden…?" shocked beyond belief, as she had thought such things could only happen in fiction, the silvery-haired girl stepped closer to her friend and put a worried hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay? Did you two…fight?"

"Yes. She…wanted me to go with her, I guess, but didn't want to understand I had a family and friends now that I loved more than anything and that I didn't know her at all…she didn't take it well." mumbled Kazuto while looking away, his eyes strangely distant now. "We argued and screamed a lot and things got…pretty ugly. Then she ran away without me being able to truly talk with her without the shouting and the anger and…I don't know where she is. I'm worried because…I think something bad may have happened to her because of what I did to make her go away…"

As he trailed off, Kazuto subtly winced, as if something had just caused him a weird pain, the black-haired boy barely holding back the following yawn…until Hiyori took both his hands between hers and made him look at her, the Lusus Naturae blinking at her unusually 'pouty' expression.

"Kazuto…whatever happened, I think I know you well enough to say it wasn't your fault…am I right? Did you start it?"

"N-no, she did…"

"What did she do?"

"She…said some horrible things about my family and friends. E-even tried to hurt them…" looking away, the black-haired boy's fists clenched at recalling it, something that didn't go unnoticed by the girl. "I…I tried to stop her and reason with her. She didn't want to. Then…things got very ugly…I may have actually lost it a bit…gone too far…"

"…somehow, that seems to be the only situation I can picture you ever getting angry. It just shows how much you really care about other people, Kazuto." kindly spoke Hiyori while squeezing his hands tighter, making him look her way in surprise. "At the end of the day, you're _human_ too, you know? No matter how nice you try to be or how much it may hurt you, you have things you don't like and can get angry. That doesn't make you a bad person…especially not if you're going so far as to lose sleep about it and looking for her, am I right?"

Because it didn't take a genius to realize that the black-haired boy wasn't out there because he had missed the warning about there not being class that day (The fact that he wasn't wearing his uniform was a dead giveaway). In fact, it seemed that he had specifically taken advantage of that fact to come out there and look for his mysterious sister.

He really was too kind for his own good, wasn't he? Why had she even thought there could be anything 'wrong' with him…?

Oh yeah, those weird 'instincts' of her. Which, strangely enough, were now screaming at her as if Kazuto had become a thousand times more dangerous since the last time she saw him.

What nonsense. If she had any doubts before, then this sudden meeting with him had dispelled them all.

She totally had a crush on Kazuto! Yup, that totally made a lot more sense compared to her silly notion of there being something weird and scary with him. Oh, she couldn't wait to tell all her plushies back home about this! It was the first time she had a crush!

…a crush whose hands she was holding tightly between hers…with his face suddenly illuminating and moving a few inches from hers…

"Thanks a lot, Hiyori-chan! I really needed to hear that!" shouted the boy while trapping the suddenly red-faces Hiyori in a bone-crushing hug. "Everyone else had already told me something along those lines, but…I think I needed to hear it from someone that hadn't been there. Someone that didn't outright hate Mirai for…well, yeah. Thanks a lot again! Seeya in school tomorrow!"

And with those words, Kazuto ran off, his usual smile back on his face and his eyes seeming a little less tired.

The silvery-haired girl, however, stood there for a few minutes, muttering gibberish as her brain tried to recover from the intimate contact from her suddenly-realized crush. Then, she started walking away, still red-faced but visibly chirpier than she had been before the seemingly fated encounter.

She never noticed the two men in dark suits that had been 'casually' keeping an eye on her and the boy, one of them reaching into an earpiece even as his partner silently nodded and followed after Kazuto.

"Target just made contact with an unknown civilian not among the registered associates. A teenage High Schooler, possibly a classmate. Following now and requesting instructions."

As he walked after the new possible target, the agent was filled in about what he needed to know: Kashiwazaka Hiyori, effectively, went to the same school as their supposed primary target. There was nothing outstanding or especially interesting about her, and all their information suggested she probably wasn't especially close to 'him' given there were no records of them meeting up outside of school.

Having been informed of this, and once he arrived at the girl's home and confirmed nothing strange or out of place seemed to be happening there, he ended the transmission and tried to contact his partner for a Status Update on their target's activities.

Nobody answered him.

"…hello? Narume? Narume?! Hey, Kou, answer!" upon receiving no answer at all, the now panicking agent once again opened communications with the base. "Hey, Hiraki here! …to hell with protocol, Agent Narume isn't answering! Can you tell me where…?"

"Why are you outside Hiyori-chan's house?"

All color drained from the man's face as he turned around, ignoring the shouting coming from his earpiece about aborting the mission and getting out of there.

Standing on the entrance of the small alley which happened to be adjacent to the high school girl's house, the unimpressive form of Kirigaya Kazuto stood, with an unnervingly empty look on his face.

Also, his partner, Narume Kou, was slumped over his shoulder and unmoving.

"Stay back!" screamed Hiraki as he whipped out a gun from the holster hidden within his jacket, making the boy blink in apparent surprise.

If it was because of how few people in Japan were even supposedly allowed to carry firearms around nowadays (And what that implied of his identity) or just because he had one at all, though, was anyone's guess.

With surprising care, though never letting him out of his sight, the 'target' lowered his unconscious partner and let him fall down on the floor.

"…I knew there was someone following me around since I went out today, but I didn't care much. I had a lot on my mind and you weren't doing any harm, so I let you be…but then you started following Hiyori-chan." spoke Kazuto with an unusually serious voice, unnerving the agent even more than anything he had ever heard before in his life. "So I confronted your friend here and asked him why you were following her, but he tried to shoot me with what I guess were tranquilizers of some kind…so I had to knock him out and then come after you. Please, tell me…why were you following Hiyori-chan? I promise I won't get angry if you have a good explanation…you weren't thinking of hurting her, were you?"

The fact that the black-haired boy's eyes shifted as he said those last words were enough to make the man lose his nerves. Screaming loudly, he fired several times, the voices coming from his earpieces lost to him as he aimed straight for the human-disguised creature's head.

Almost at the same time he had started firing, though…the boy _posed_ and shouted the last thing he was expecting.

"Henshin!"

At that moment, Hiyori had just gotten to her room and was about to start changing out of her uniform when the unexpected sound of gunshots startled her, making her fall on her bed. Shocked, the girl scrambled back to her feet and, against what common sense would have dictated (But most people in the vicinity did anyway because, you know, human nature), rushed to her window.

She was just in time to see the bizarre sight of a man in a black suit being kicked up into the air, then a black humanoid figure jumping after his unconscious form, grabbing him and crushing the gun they had been holding with no effort, landing in a nearby roof.

Shouts had started filling the street even before the mysterious figure let a thin and long black…cable (?) or something like that sprout from his wrist and pull another man in a suit up to his side. Then, he turned around, letting her see the insect-like 'eyes' of his 'helmet' and its full and clearly very Japanese-inspired glory.

For a moment, the girl could have sworn he looked directly at her, a very familiar feeling filling her as he did so.

Then, he jumped away with his 'captives', faster and higher than any human ever could.

Even as the shouting outside intensified and the sound of people actually rushing out of their houses (Some with their phones out and clearly trying to take a picture) Hiyori could only blink before mumbling something with a shocked voice.

"…Kazuto is actually a Kamen Rider?!"

She never noticed how, just out of the corner of her eyes, something unnatural seemed to stare at her, keeping her safe…

* * *

 _"Even in a world full only with enemies, there will always be someone you must protect."_ –Tendou Souji /Kamen Rider Kabuto (Wise words, if hard to live by…)

* * *

"Ugh…what a pain…why is it so hot today?" complained Shigemura Yuuna as she and two other girls walked under the setting sun. "It's supposed to be Winter!"

"Well, sometimes days like this can happen, right?" Asuna said while patting her back. "Still…we had fun, right?"

"We sure did! Shopping together is nice!" cheerfully agreed Suguha while raising the small bag she now carried. "I can't wait for Onii-chan to tell me how cute I look in this!"

"…you assume straight out that he will?" challenged the oldest girl with an amused smile, receiving only a stuck-out tongue for answer.

"Yes, because Onii-chan says I always look cute no matter what I wear!" replied the young kendoka before looking shyly away. "Be-because…he loves me…"

"…yup, that sounds like something Kazuto-kun would say." chuckled Asuna while shaking her head, idly looking up towards the sky. "…is he still worried about…that thing that attacked us?"

Almost like an unspoken agreement amongst the group that had 'survived' Isshiki Beach, no one tried to refer to Mirai as Kazuto's 'sister' before Suguha. They knew the girl reacted quite…badly to that, though surprisingly more because of the emotional damage the encounter and her subsequent disappearance seemed to have left on the alien boy than anything else.

Given that none of them felt exactly kind towards the 'girl' that had so uncaringly tried to horribly murder all of them and turn the boy they loved into an unfeeling horror from beyond the stars, it wasn't really that difficult to agree on.

"…yeah, he is." mumbled Suguha with clear annoyance/depression at the thought. "I know that's just Onii-chan being himself…especially with how traumatic all of that had to be for him, no matter how much he tries to hide it, but…I can't help but feel a little jealous of him worrying about that mons…about her, I guess."

"Sugu-chan, please, don't mince words: That Mirai was a monster, both in the actual and metaphorical meaning of the word." bluntly declared Yuuna with a noticeable scowl, before sighing with a slightly resigned expression. "Still, you're right. Kazuto wouldn't be himself if he wasn't willing to 'forgive' her…do you really think she will have 'changed' like he thinks, though? After all of that?"

"It's…hard to say. But if Kazuto-kun believes it, then we should at least let him try to talk to her first, right?" ventured Asuna with a thoughtful look before looking worriedly towards the young kendoka. "And…has there been any word on Waryum-san?"

"None. At this point, I think it's very clear someone really got him, one way or another." replied Suguha with clear frustration, knowing how much the Tryum had grown on her beloved adopted brother despite their rocky first meeting and the fact that she honestly didn't really dislike him nowadays despite how she almost killed herself by mistake when she first met him. "Most of the Sleeping Knights are all gung-ho into mounting a 'Rescue Operation' that basically consists of them busting him out from wherever he is by force…but we need to find where he is first, and hope Si-eun-san can convince them to not do anything crazy when we do."

"Seems like we're full-on with alien problems these days, eh? How about switching to a 'less crazy' topic?" tried Yuuna upon noticing the worried expressions on the younger girls' faces. "Have you decided about Shiori and Rika yet? Are any of you going to tell them that all three of us are technically 'dating' Kazuto at the same time?"

As expected, the Yuuki Heiress' face turned a deep crimson and words seemed to abandon her while the young kendoka simply pouted.

It was hilarious, how seriously yet nonchalantly they could take everything related to the madness on their lives about aliens and conspiracies but they suddenly turned back to be simple teenagers when the topic of their bizarre 'romantic' situation was.

"I…I don't really…uhm…d-do you even think they would accept…?" started to say Asuna, before Suguha interrupted her with a resigned groan.

"You know how Onii-chan's 'logic' works, Asuna. He never saw any problem in loving us all at the same time, he was only scared because he thought we didn't feel the same for him. Combine that with the fact that there is no way we can keep our situation with him 'hidden' forever (In fact I find it a miracle HE hasn't accidentally blurted it out before someone) and you can imagine how they would react…" shaking her head, the young kendoka pouted once again as she looked straight ahead. "I'm happy Kazuto loves me as much as I do, but I can't say I'm thrilled of the idea of having to share him with even more girls…though that's without a doubt what will happen in the long run with those two unless we purposefully keep him away from them…"

"Which we all know it's not going to happen, nor are we evil enough to even consider it." finished Yuuna why all three were thinking, grumbling something about 'stupid alien boyfriends' before smiling and looking once again at her closest friends. "So then, how about we tell them ourselves once this current mess is over so we don't look like jerks that were hiding…? Eh? Is that Kage-chan?"

The idol-hopeful's words were accompanied by both other girls blinking and looking up in time to see a crow descend and caw as it posed itself on Suguha's shoulder, making big gestures with its wings as it cawed repeatedly.

"Eh?! Onii-chan did what?!" half-shouted the shocked young kendoka, much to the other two's confusion.

"Caw! Cawcaw!"

"Ugh, I can't believe…! Okay, fine, I'm going back home right now, lead the way!" turning to look at the other girls, the young kendoka looked worried and nervous at the same time as she kept speaking. "Sorry girls, we will have to cut this short! Onii-chan apparently kidnapped two suited men that were following him around!"

"What?!" shouted Asuna with clear panic, though for which part of the reveal was unclear.

"…you know, in any 'normal' setting that last sentence would have gone differently…" sighed Yuuna before pointing forward with a determined face. "Okay then, let's go!"

"Uh?! But you…"

"I will make up an excuse for dad on the way, won't be that hard! And I'm sure Asuna can do the same with enough motivation!"

"Ye-yes, of course I can!" confirmed the chestnut-haired girl as they all ran following the unnatural crow, not caring how pissed her mother would be when she arrived late for dinner.

Not far from the running trio, the agent that had been following _them_ was currently leaning against a wall, listening with a grimace to the report from his earpiece and nodding at the orders of abandoning his mission and returning to base. And so, he turned to give one last look towards the three girls…

 _Something_ unnatural stared at him, just out of the corner of his eye. Startled, the man spun around, but there was nothing abnormal in the street behind him, except that it looked surprisingly empty for that hour of the day.

The feeling that something was looking at him with hostility, though, as if threatening him for being so close to the three girls, just outside where his eyes could see it, remained.

There was no shame on the man when he broke into a run, putting as much distance as he could between him and the trio of teenagers.

* * *

 _"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness."_ – Friedrich Nietzsche (No more fitting words for these girls).

* * *

"So…we finally found where those humans took basically everything you had in that 'apartment' you were staying at, Waryum. Luckily for us, they didn't bother dismantling the main components of the primitive communicator you built."

Looking up from where he was working on a bio-computer's screen, Waryum frowned towards Ubom and Grotek, the former apparently proud of himself for their accomplishment.

"Yeah, and we wouldn't have taken so long to do so if you had stocked this ship with the standard supplies for repairs in case of an emergency!" berated the Earth-dwelling alien while walking towards his 'superiors' and poking the taller one in the chest several times, making him recoil. "You're lucky Kazu…X-K0940, that is, didn't blow something actually critical from the ship or you would all be stranded here for who knows how long!"

"…uhm…wouldn't you also be stranded here then, Waryum?" asked a nervous Grotek while seeing the unusually aggressive Tryum (Earth certainly had changed him, hadn't it?) completely disregarding protocol towards someone of higher rank.

"I have been living on Earth for longer than there has been Internet and amongst humans for over 15 years. This planet is my home, as I told you before, so I wouldn't really be stranded anywhere." snorted Waryum while turning around and walking towards the bridge, the two High Researchers exchanging a look before following after him. "Now let's pray to Fate that those humans from the government didn't destroy the DNA Code by mistake…"

"You know, Waryum…I know 'Mental Discharge' is something our race practices casually to keep specific things secret, but…that's because we usually have access to bio-computers to download the thoughts we get rid of." mumbled Ubom as they arrived to see the rest of the crew busy making sure all the repairs they had made were in order. "Did you really have to note something so important down in something as primitive as a written note and then erase it from your mind anyway?"

'Mental Discharge' was the Tryums way of referring to their unnatural control of their own annoyingly durable biology to literally 'remove parts of their brains'. Or, in a less crude way of putting it, to literally remove thoughts and information related to a specific matter from their mind through a biological process that was quite messy. As the High Researcher had commented, though, this was usually because they had easy access to bio-technology that allowed them to 'save' those 'fragments of bio-data' in a much more secure environment than their own heads.

Waryum hadn't had any of that, yet he had removed the Base Code of X-K0940's DNA from his brain once he had noted it down and hidden it, then literally burned the piece of his brain with the information in a trashcan. Essentially, at that moment, no one knew the key piece of information that could be crucial for the survival of Earth.

"I had…different priorities at the time." mumbled the Earth-dwelling Tryum in an evasive way, clearly knowing it would be a waste of time to let his fellow aliens know a part of him had actually hoped there was a chance to simply live and coexist with Kirigaya Kazuto without things having to go to hell, given it was now a moot point. "It doesn't matter, what does is that we recover that damn code. It shouldn't be too hard to get it from a human facility, no matter how protected it is, as long as we're smart about it."

"Just as you say, researcher Waryum, it shouldn't be." spoke Pibap from his usual console upon seeing the 3 researchers having arrived, waving towards his own screen. "We have triangulated the position of your makeshift communicator to a spot in the middle of the sea that shouldn't have anything on it, so we're assuming it must be some kind of facility that's not recorded in…"

Suddenly, the technician trailed off, wincing in a weird way as he looked to the side for an instant and scratched the edge of his right eye, much to the confusion of the 3 Researchers.

"Uhm…you okay, young Pibap?"

"Ye-yeah, sorry about that Researcher Grotek, I just…thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Anyway, as I was saying…"

"Wait…what did you just say?" interrupted Waryum with a shocked tone, causing the other Tryums to look at him.

"Uhm, that I saw something out of the…? Oh." Suddenly freezing, Pibap's own eyes widened, his gaze shooting from side to side in utter shock. "I…but that's…not possible."

Everyone within earshot slowly started to understanding, comprehension dawning on them as suddenly they were all very tense, the Tryums' eyes sweeping the bridge with clear nervousness.

Their races' biology was unique, because of how malleable and resistant it was, after all, and how it took a lot to kill them even if their regeneration was so stupidly slow. In fact, Waryum had always suspected that this was a heavy reason why 0940 and 0941's unholy regeneration and self-mutating abilities were so bizarre. Tryum DNA had been used in their initial modifications, after all.

The point, though, was that their eyes and brain were much better connected than those of any human, for example. They could get blinded, yes, but they couldn't see 'mirages' or be tricked by 'hallucinations' because their brains could process what they saw of its true nature without even a conscious thought.

Meaning that it was impossible for the young technician to have seen 'something out of the corner of his eye' and be unable to tell what it had been…unless something had been purposefully doing exactly that.

A tense silence filled the Tryum ship's bridge as the aliens shifted slightly in place, unable neither to see nor to hear anything that said something that shouldn't be there was hiding invisible. Which meant…

"No…that can't be right." whispered Ubom as the 3 Researchers arrived at the same conclusion.

"Mental interference? No…extra-dimensional one?" mumbled Grotek as he looked everywhere, as if he was suddenly scared the ship's walls would open and eat him.

"Pibap, quick! Run a scan on all levels of the Perception Spectrum on the entire ship! NOW!" shouted Waryum with a panicked look, a sinking feeling on his stomach as the technician scrambled to do that, everyone looking on with bated breaths…before all the computers on the bridge suddenly showed countless of red symbols and strange patterns of energy, big _'Danger!'_ messages filling them before a hologram of Earth was brought forward for everyone to see. "N-no…what in…the name of Fate?"

"Thi-this is…"

"All signs…detect there is something reaching out from beyond Observable Space. Nature is unknown. It's…all over the Earth, Researchers. Like…looking for something." gulped Pibap with clear fear, unable to believe the readings he was seeing and with the horrifying realization this 'something' had been looking through him a moment ago. "It's…there is…something…"

"Can we…get a read on it? Anything…?" asked Grotek as he leaned forward and saw the countless 'signals' converting all around the holographic image, like interlocking lines of a network or…

…or twisted tendrils longer than continents.

"…there is. It sounds like…a heartbeat." ominously declared the technician before pushing another button on his keyboard.

A sound unlike anything the ancient Tryum race had ever heard before suddenly filled the entire bridge.

Massive. Ominous. _Alien_.

Like a drum the size of a moon. Like the macabre tune of some mad nightmare from the depths of the void. Or, like Pibap had said… _like a heartbeat_.

"…where is the anchor point?" asked Waryum with a hollow voice, making the technician look at him in fear. "I know you can't trace the origin, but…where is it all converging on THIS side?"

After a few shaky seconds of confusion, the young Tryum turned back to his bio-computer and quickly let the holographic image they were seeing change, the focus of the planned zooming in towards Japan, then towards a very specific point of the Saitama Prefecture, the city of Kawagoe, and…

"…what is in that place?"

Despite having not really expected any response, Grotek found his question being answered by a shaking Waryum.

"X-K0940." spoke the Earth-dwelling alien as he saw the coordinates showing the Kirigaya Family's house on the screen, before slowly turning towards the two frozen High Researchers. "Just…what the hell did you two create? What in the name of Fate…have you unleashed?"

At the same time, in a certain house of Kawagoe, Kirigaya Kazuto stopped nervously pacing from side to side of his family's dojo, wincing and covering his right eyes for a moment.

Blinking and looking away from the two unconscious men tied with ropes of black flesh that she and the other Sleeping Knights were helping him watch over until his mother got back home, a worried Konno Yuuki walked to his side and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Kirito? Is something wrong?"

"A-ah, no, Yuuki, I'm fine, I guess it's just the nerves of everything getting to me…I could have sworn I saw another weird vision again."

"Another weird vision…?"

"Yeah, I have been having them since the morning after…fighting Mirai. It's probably nothing, though, just things that worry me popping up in my head. I have seen Yuuna's disappeared childhood friend, the girls, and even Waryum-jii, after all…"

Somewhere and Nowhere, a sea of flesh and blood churned, the bleeding stars 'shining' high above it pulsating as its unnatural heartbeat accelerated, finally working as one with a single purpose for the first time in forever.

Searching for what its True Self wanted. Searching for what it needed.

 **(Protect…Find…)**

 _"Brother…help…"_

 _"Aki-kun…?"_

 _"I'm worried about Kazuto…"_

 _"Two agents gone, surveillance compromised…"_

 _"Looks like you have to take your chances with my idea, Kikuoka-san…"_

 _"Move, move, move! It's watching us; we need to recover that damn Code before it's too late!"_

 _"We're all doomed…totally doomed…it's an extra-dimensional ex…"_

 _"Don't you fucking say it, Ubom!"_

 **(…no matter the cost. Protect. Our. Loved. Ones.)**

Slowly, the 'stars' opened more, waiting.

Waiting for the Call…

* * *

 _"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown"_ –H.P. Lovecraft (It's watching **you** , out of the corner of your eyes…).

* * *

This time, when it happened, Mirai actually saw it.

Blinking, the 'girl' trapped in the empty white space tilted her head. Then, she actually looked around, shocked.

She saw it again, making her swirl around.

Again, though this time she didn't bother moving, closing her 'eyes'.

"…brother?"

There was no answer. And yet, she could feel it…him, just outside her vision, even in that place where nothing was real…

No. Where 'real' was a different concept.

Concentrating, cursing their now severed bond, the creature called X-K0941 by her creators reached out…

 _And saw IT._

Eyes snapping open, Mirai stared in wonder at seemingly nowhere, as if seeing the empty space around her with new eyes.

Then, ever so slowly, she raised her arm, _Willing_ the fake reality around her to change.

For a moment, nothing happened.

And suddenly, with a burst of static and a screeching sound, her arm burst into polygons, which degraded further into a seemingly endless stream of 0s and 1s. They quickly reformed into a long and monstrous tentacle of raw data, which split like the roots of a maddened tree all around Mirai.

Slowly, the girl's virtual face twisted into a disturbing smile. Then, she reached out with her new tendrils, into the 'walls' of her 'prison' and beyond.

In an instant, she was Connected.

Within the depths of the FullDive prototype known as 'Mind Cage', no one could hear Mirai laughing like a lunatic, even as the lights of the facility her body rested in flickered for an instant.

At the same time, inside the Sword Art Online Servers…the Cardinal System suddenly entered full-alert mode, summoning every single one of its secondary programs and sending out warnings to its creator.

Something had suddenly started trying to get into almost every network system in Japan in the most bizarre way possible, after all _…_

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** _We're so very small, in the end…_

Ehem, and that's enough ominous Lovecraftian horror foreshadowing. For now.

So! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, in its own way. Without stopping, we're getting closer and closer to the inevitable ending of this story. Hard to believe what started as a random "April Fool's Joke" has gotten this far, eh?

Fun fact, the Hiyori segment originally wasn't supposed to be that long or detailed, but I just recently was finally able to read SAO Girls Ops Vol 4 and I got in a very inspired Lux-mood (Which I hope lasts me until the next Update for The Eroge too), so I hope you had fun with it whether you're fans of her or not. Also, everyone is making plans and worrying about the future, while things just keep spiraling out of their control in the shadows…

Oh, and the Ocean Turtle is, as always, stupidly easy to find, because that's just Canon. Even when it's not even half-finished or has its silly name, it will remain forever the worst-hidden secret facility in the story of fiction XP Meanwhile, despite the horror of her situation, Mirai may have found out how to do something very scary…

The idea for the 'Mind Cage' is basically a souped-up Medicuboid taken up to eleven, btw. It's not quite a Soul Translator in any way, and its purpose is much more sinister in one aspect, as it literally takes one of the darkest aspects of the Canon SAO Incident (Being a mental prisoner unable to reach your own body) and combines it with the most benign aspect of the Medicuboid (Making the patient unable to feel the 'pain' their body is constantly in) for an extremely sinister purpose, especially in how it's being used here...

And well, that's all for now! Gotta rest a bit and then get to the next chapter of OPG:CoF, after all. But first, I shall leave you today with today's Omake! And again, in case you keep forgetting, as this one makes it very obvious, the Omakes became a divergence to the main fic before Lusus-kun started High School, so nothing that happened after that in the main story has happened here~

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 11: Bewitched School Trip**

"Man…this place is beautiful!" cheerfully declared Kazuto as he walked out of the school bus to look at the small forest around them, a massive field filled with sunflowers visible in the distance. "My first High School trip…I can already tell is going to be great!"

Behind him, the rest of the Newspaper's club members, Mizore included (As she had joined soon after their rocky first meeting) walked out with their own smiles…except for Ginei, who hadn't been able to come because of his failing grades.

Not that the girls cared much, really. He may friendlier and more sincere than ever before, especially after the whole ordeal with Kuyou's group, but he was still a hopeless pervert.

Whatever the reason, though, it had been around four months since the school year in Youkai Academy had started and, after the recent exams, the semester was finally over. Summer vacations had arrived.

Sadly, Kazuto had been noticeably depressed upon being told he _couldn't_ go over to his home during the break, as part of the school regulations. His family and friends back home hadn't been exactly thrilled either, even if they had understood (And his mother nervously stopped him through a call from "going to complain to the principal", Midori clearly not wanting to risk her adopted son to duck it out with the weird-sounding monster that was in charge of the school over not going home for the break. No matter how much her daughter and several others would have approved).

"It's certainly a lovely view…and after being unable to find out where that Kotsubo ran off to last week, we could all use a break." sighed Moka with a small shake even as the rest walked off the bus. "Hopefully this camping trip will be enough for us to forget that…"

"How are we supposed to forget that if you're saying it right away?" complained Kurumu with a pout as she walked out of the bus, followed by an unusually cheerful Yukari.

"Don't say that just because you're in a bad mood." casually commented Mizore while walking past the Succubus and the witch. "You shouldn't have picked on Yukari if you knew Kazuto was going to scold you for being mean to her."

"I-I wasn't trying to be mean, I was just really nervous myself before she started going all crazy with worry! Besides, look at her now!" complained Kurumu while pointing out towards the youngest member of the group, who was giggling happily as she looked at how pretty the clouds were. "She was all crazy with worry about being in the human world not even 10 minutes ago and now she looks as if not even an attack from an S-Class Monster would faze her!"

"…admit it, you're just jealous of all the time Kazuto spent with her to reassure her it would all be okay and that he would be at her side at all times while also telling her how amazing and fun the human world could be from his personal experiences." retorted the Snow Woman with a deadpanning tone, before looking to the side with a somber look. "I know because I am."

"…you're right, I am too." lamented the succubus while looking down, feeling an unusual kinship towards the latest member of their bizarre group. Idly, she patted her fellow club member's arm.

Unknown to them, that would be the beginning of a weird but unbreakable friendship.

"Heh…its great how everyone can get along like this, isn't it?" muttered Moka with a smile as she watched the 'lamenting' duo and the happily giggling Yukari. "Who would have thought half a year ago I could have these many great friends?"

 _"…yes, it's certainly a shocking development. However, aren't you worried?"_ questioned the vampiress' Inner-self from within the rosary, making her blink. _"After all, it should be obvious what the thing that keeps you all together is. And Kazuto's affections will one day become a cause of conflict for you all…"_

"Inner me…you're actually very worried about our friendship with everyone, aren't you?" chuckled Moka even as her rosary shook in quick denials. "It's fine, really. Because…I like to think that there is more keeping us together than just Kazuto. And in the end, well…I'm sure we won't resent whoever he chooses, if that has to happen."

For a moment, Akashiya Moka froze and blinked, looking around with confusion as she wondered why she felt as if someone had just laughed at her last words.

"Hey, everyone!" suddenly came Kazuto's voice as they all snapped out of their own thoughts, seeing the smiling boy walking towards them…and the school bus driving away, for some reason. "Wanna go see those sunflowers up close? They're very pretty!"

"Uhm, Kazuto-san? Why is the bus going away without us?" asked Yukari with sudden nervousness.

"Oh, Bus Driver-san said something about taking Nekonome-sensei to have some fish something nearby and said we would have our camping around here by ourselves. Also something about people vanishing in the area or something, I wasn't really paying him much attention." shrugged the Lusus Naturae with his ever-cheerful tone, ignoring or not noticing the open-mouthed looks from the girls at his words. "That seemed to exasperate him a bit, though…"

"Wa-wait, go back to the part about people disappearing around here?!"

"Forget that, did they just abandon us here in the middle of nowhere?! Also, now that I think about it, weren't there a pair of 'No Trespassing' signs on the way here?!"

"Maybe…we should all stay together to make sure nothing happens."

"Mi-Mizore, don't say that while getting directly back to back with Kazuto, dammit!"

"E-everyone, we should try to calm down…" laughed a nervous Moka while idly thinking that maybe her Inner-self's words weren't 100% unfounded. "After all, we wouldn't want to…"

"Hey! What are you kids doing here?!" suddenly called an annoyed voice not far from the group, making them blink in surprise to see a bespectacled man in a suit that didn't seem fitting for walking around that area walking their way, very close to the 'sunflower garden'. "This is a restricted area that soon will be property of RECT, you can't…! Wait…do I know you from…? AH!"

"Ooooh…you're Asuna's fiancé! Sugou-san, right?" asked Kazuto while pointing dramatically towards the man who was staring at him in shock, his schoolmates blinking in confusion as they walked a bit closer to him and looked wearily at the creepy-looking man. "What are you doing here?"

"Kirigaya Kazuto?! That's what _I_ should be asking!"

And the man had more than enough reason to say that, because he had spent the last months trying to locate the black-haired boy without success. After all, once he figured out he was clearly the cause of why his fiancé was suddenly so fiercely against their marriage, he had sought to try and get as much information as he could to see if he could be 'removed' from the picture.

Then, the annoyance in his plans of a great future had suddenly vanished from the face of Earth after apparently entering a 'private High School', information of which he could find nothing about, much less its location. To make matters worse, it seemed that the time apart wasn't making Asuna forget him, but actually make the Yuuki Heiress much more devoted about her new goals in life while constantly looking forward to any news or calls from him.

So to find him out of nowhere here, in an annoying assignment he was only doing to keep in good graces with Yuuki Shouzou and convince him that his daughter's refusals were nothing but teenage rebellion, was more than a shock for the man.

…especially given that the boy apparently had surrounded himself with a bunch of beautiful girls…

"Uhm, well, I and the rest are just here on a camping trip from school…"

"Kazuto…who is this guy?" asked Moka with an uncertain look, interrupting her best friend.

"Oh! Yeah, you remember how I talked to you about my friends back home? Do you remember Asuna?" smiling happily upon seeing the girls nodding (And completely missing the small scowls a few of them sported upon remembering his description of the 'pretty human girl who saved his life'). "Well, he's her…fiancé…"

"Ah…uhm, a pleasure to meet you, sir?" mumbled Kurumu with mixed feelings, the joy she experienced upon hearing a possible distant 'opponent' was promised turning to confusion and small jealousy upon noticing the Lusus Naturae's subconscious bitterness at saying that.

Then again, if the guy was as unpleasant as he seemed, she may actually feel a bit bad for this Asuna girl…

"Sugou Nobuyuki, it's a pleasure to meet you all." asked the man with a suddenly charming smile, making the group (Sans Kazuto) blink at how extremely fake the sudden change felt. "You remember I work for Asuna's father's company, Kazuto-kun? Well, we were thinking about buying the terrains of this area so we can convert them into a new secondary business for RECT's newest branch focused in FullDive technology, hence why I'm here inspecting the terrain."

"…that…sounds good, I guess, but…" his gaze moving towards the beautiful sunflowers going as far as the eye could see, the alien boy couldn't help but bit his lips. "It seems like a waste to destroy all these poor flowers…"

"Sadly, that's how progress takes place, Kazuto-kun, there is nothing I can do about that." 'regretfully' informed Sugou, as if he wasn't the one who had been put in charge of the new RECT's branch and as such the one who would benefit the most from the new construction. "But enough with those depressing topics! Let's see…how about I take a few pictures for you? That way you can not only remember this beautiful view while it's still here, you also get some lovely memories of your first High School trip!"

Also, there was the fact he would get pictures of his fiancé's crush with several other girls, which some small digital modifications would help him create a perfect way of breaking Asuna's heart.

Mentally patting himself for his genius plan, especially when the girls seemed excited at the thought of getting some pictures close with Kazuto (Some stupid kids had all the luck, it seemed…not that it would matter to him in the long run). And so, they all leaned back smiling, the black-haired boy bothering for a moment to call the youngest one ("Come here, Yukari-chan!") to stand before him and calm down her clear nervousness.

Smiling himself at his hidden triumph, Sugou Nobuyuki aimed with his phone's camera, took the picture…and was promptly caught by several tentacle-like vines, the startled group of teenagers barely having a moment to look at his shocked face before he was eaten whole by a plant monster that had just emerged from the sunflower garden, the man not having time to even scream before he was completely devoured.

Several more plant-like monsters choose that moment to emerge, roaring menacingly towards the Newspaper Club, even as horror finally took over them at what they had just witnessed.

"I-it ate him! That thing ate him!"

"Oh Gods, what the hell?! What are those things?!"

"Less wondering, more killing them, they're coming!"

"N-no…Kazuto-san, yo-your friend's fiancé!"

"Ho-how am I going to tell Asuna I let him be eaten by a bunch of plant monsters?!" shouted a horrified Kazuto without knowing how a certain chestnut-haired girl felt weirdly relieved at that moment, even as his eyes narrowed. "You… **bastards!"**

Less than a minute later, several trees were broken down as the 'monster form' of Kazuto ran away from the area, eyes narrowed and the girls handing onto him for dear life, several of his tentacles making sure they didn't fall off.

"They just…kept coming." panted Yukari while looking worriedly at the closest eye of her friend and (One of her) crush(es). "That couldn't be normal…I think magic was involved."

"Yeah, those were clearly not Youkai of any kind. Some kind of familiar or something darker, maybe." declared Inner Moka while doing her best to ignore the tentacle holding her waist in an almost tender way as she gripped one of the spikes on the Lusus Naturae's back. "It seems we found out why people are 'disappearing' around here."

"I-I can't believe that guy was just killed before us just like that." mumbled a wide-eyed Kurumu even as one of Kazuto's tendrils worriedly patted her back.

After all, despite how crazy things were in Youkai Academy, this was the first time the group ever saw someone die before their eyes, and it had been quite shaking, more from some than others.

"…someone is watching us." informed Mizore with narrowed eyes, everyone looking at her in surprise. "I'm an expert of trying to spy on others without them knowing it, so I can tell."

 **"…we can't let whoever control those plants kill more innocent people."** declared Kazuto with an unusually serious tone, earning nods from the rest of the girls **. "I could try going back and killing more until whoever was controlling them comes out, but…I don't want to put you all at risk."**

"…then what do you suggest?" asked Inner Moka with a raised eyebrow, surprised at how genuine the concern in his voice felt for all of them prevented her from getting angry at his insinuation of her not being able to protect herself.

And, as he had said, those damn things seemed just endless…Yukari especially wouldn't have lasted much longer even with her magic if they hadn't run away.

 **"…Yukari-chan? Do you see my phone hanging from one of my tentacles near you?"**

"Uhm, ye-yeah, I do…what about it?"

"Please, grab it. I need you to make a call while we move and then pass it back to me…it should be the 7th on my Contact List…"

At that moment, in a certain apartment of Tokyo, Waryum the Tryum blinked as his phone started ringing, his eyes widening upon seeing the name on the screen before answering, his next works making all the people that, as always, despite having their own apartments, had gathered on his own for lunch, freeze.

"Kazuto?! Is that you?! I thought you couldn't call with your phone from wherever…eh? Uhm…what? Plants of what?…you want me to put the speaker on and point it at everyone? How do you even know they are…ugh, okay?"

"…hello? Can you hear me? I think I may need your help, Waryum-jii, everyone, there is an army of plant monsters here that no one seems to have noticed, somehow." came the distorted voice of the Lusus Naturae's true form through the phone's speaker, making everyone tense slightly at recognizing it…and then blink at the several unknown female ones on the background seemingly asking something of him. "Yeah, uhm… a friend of the family and others like that, I will explain later girls…anyway, I really need your help! Can you come to this place called…Witch Hill? Really? Huh, you know, I think that explains a lot of things…"

As the talk of their savior and friend descended upon weird rambling, probably talking with whoever he currently was with, Akane stood up dramatically, the one better known as Merida turning to look at her second family/guild with a fierce grin.

"Well, you hear the boss, guys!" declared the hybrid girl while raising her right arm, letting it mutate into its deadly-looking 'scimitar'-form. "Sleeping Knights, _Assemble_!"

"…but Merida, we're all already here."

Still holding the phone with the speaker on, Waryum the Tryum facepalmed.

When would his life stop being such a complicated mess…?

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** Poor Sugou, he somehow ended up worse than in the main story…but hey, who cares :P? (Also, the slight changes on background to the fate of Witch Hill are to fit with the timeline/setting of this taking place in SAO's timeline)

Once again, Lusus-kun's nature being so radically different from Tsukune's makes a big difference here. Given that keeping his friends happy and worrying for them a lot is deeply ingrained into her, Yukari's fear and the argument they cause with Kurumu, which were the main emotional drama of this part, don't take place as he crushes them down before it can even begin, so Ruby doesn't get any 'hold' to snatch Yukari-chan. Also, Moka has a different outlook of things than her canon-self, slightly less 'possessive', because Kazuto has been treating all of them as equally and friendly as possible, unlike Tsukune who was constantly pinning for her mainly in quite an obvious way.

Also, to be fair, he COULD have gone back and just nuked the flower garden, as you all know, but not only would have that made everyone in the nearby city notice, he also really didn't want to kill all those pretty flowers. Also, it would have made the witches really pissed, even if they don't know that yet OxO

And now, he has called 'reinforcements'! Man, is hard being Waryum, eh? Also, wonder how long is going to take him to call Midori and complain about her son fighting plant 'monsters' with his hybrids and Youkai friends?

You will see it, next time!


	17. Chapter 15: Humanity's Horror

Hello everyone and welcome back to another chapter of my 'weirdest' story after quite some time!

Not much to say this time except that, if you only read this story and none of my other 2 active SAO ones, then the reason for the delay of this chapter was already explained in the latest Updates for both of them. December last year was quite busier than I expected…

But that aside, now it's time to look forward to the future instead of looking back on past mistakes! And with that, I leave you with more adventures of everyone's favorite freak of nature. The end is coming closer and closer…enjoy the chapter!

Also, help with this story's TvTropes' page is urgently needed. It hasn't been Updated in a very long time and I'm drawing a blank in what to add myself…

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Humanity's Horror**

 **January 10th, 2024. Kawagoe, Saitama. Kirigaya Household, 23:00…**

Kirigaya Midori had certainly resigned herself to the fact that her life would never be anything even close to 'normal'. In fact, she had started to realize that, if anything, her life would just turn more and more bizarre with the passing of time.

And it all started because she was unable to abandon a sinister and weird-eyed 'child' in the woods. Because she was unable to not plead to her husband to take him with them after he made Suguha laugh.

Given all the unsettling and strange developments that had led to that point, one would think that she would have thought twice, or at least come to regret it in the following years, thanks to all the madness that had come her family's way thanks to that decision.

She didn't. Not even once.

Because even if her son was a failed alien experiment dumped on their planet by a bunch of idiots with little care for consequences under the 'care' of a not-very-competent member of their species. That said, he was still her son. Part of her family.

Maybe Kazuto didn't have her blood, but he was still as much her son as Suguha was her daughter. Nothing in the universe would ever change that. Not half-competent alien scientists, not crazy Yandere biological monster sisters…not even the freaking government trying to get him for who knew what shady purpose.

…she probably should have a talk with him soon about his 'situation' with the girls in his life, though. Neither Yuuna nor Asuna were as 'subtle' as they probably believed and Suguha…well, her daughter's not-so-sisterly love for the boy was so obvious even she, with how little she was at home, could see it. And she had noticed the looks Shiori and Rika sent his way sometimes; nevermind Akane's enthusiastic cheer around him or the weird obsession Yuuki seemed to have with his…yeah, no, not going there.

Sadly, the subject of her alien son's unrealistic love life had to wait for now. The most pressing matter at that moment, without a doubt, were the 2 tied-up men on her family's dojo, who were apparently some kind of government agents.

At least Kazuto had bothered to take off their shoes before dumping them there, probably to not damage the floor. Trust in her son's priorities to be as skewed as possible.

"S-so, mom…that's about it." finished the black-haired boy with an awkward look, doing his best to look away from his silent mother as she looked from him to the tied-up men in disbelief. "I-I wasn't sure what to do with them, so took them here…a-are you mad at me?"

At his side, Suguha was encouragingly holding his hand while looking at her out of the corner of her eyes with evident worry, even as Asuna and Yuuna stood behind them, their own worried gazes fixed on the alien boy (Seriously, were those three even trying to pretend anymore?) as he kept avoiding his mother's gaze.

Around them, the Sleeping Knights fidgeted awkwardly in place, apparently unsure of what to do or say, which was quite an amusing sight given 2 of them were adults and as such clearly aware of the craziness in Kazuto's actions. Then again, they also were only alive because the 'Lusus Naturae' had turned them into half-alien/half-human hybrids, so they most likely felt more than a bit indebted to him…nevermind those of them that had a 'special' interest on him.

Finally, though, Midori simply sighed before walking forward…and patting her son in the head, much to his clear shock, everyone else's surprised faces turning amusingly soft when they saw him preening and leaning into the affectionate gesture with childish happiness and relief.

Any other teenager his age would no doubt have gotten mad or annoyed/embarrassed at that, but it was just another of the many peculiarities the woman loved about her child: No matter how surprisingly mature he could act at times, Kazuto was always both endearingly childish and innocent to a fault.

Truly, it would worry the hell out of her if he wasn't surrounded by so many wonderful and protective people…and that he was, you know, an alien monstrosity that could easily take care of someone trying to take advantage of him.

"It's okay, Kazuto, I'm not mad." finally spoke Midori with a resigned tone. "At least not at YOU. You did what you thought was right to try and protect your classmate and these guys had no right to be spying on you."

"Hmmphm!" protested one of the men through the gag around his mouth, which made the woman blink and ask a question that had been bugging her for a while.

"Also…what's that thing tying and gagging them?"

"Oh, it's a semi-calcified version of my flesh!" cheerfully explained Kazuto as if it was no big deal, making both men freeze and pale, one of them starting to cough over his gag with horror, causing everyone else to sweatdrop. "It seemed faster than using ropes and, well, we don't really have that here in the first place, so…"

"Yes, okay, I get that. Don't worry." cut him off the woman with a small shake of her head, before looking back at the alien abomination she had adopted as her own son…and once again finding absolutely no reason to want him out of her life. "Is it dangerous?"

"Uhm, no…it's actually quite brittle and easy to break when enough pressure is applied from the right angle, but…"

"Then leave this to your mother now, Kazuto. You have done more than enough." smiled Midori before walking past her children and the 2 curious-looking girls, stopping before one of the men before unceremoniously ripping the 'gag' from his face, making him scream in pain. "Who sent you and why were you following my son?"

"G-go to hell…" gasped the dark-haired man while looking away, his words earning him a scowl from the Kirigaya siblings.

"You know it's illegal to follow a minor around with clearly hostile purposes, right? And shooting at them?" rhetorically asked the woman while giving the agent an unimpressed look. "Unless you're working for someone very high up the ladder, you could spend a lot of time in jail for trying to kill my son.

"Fuck off! Your 'son' is an abomination from outer space, that thing has no right for human laws to app…!"

And that was as far as the man went before Midori mercilessly rammed her foot into his crotch, the agent releasing a howl of pain and almost foaming at the mouth as he fell down, unconscious from the shock.

His partner shook in place, releasing a muffled scream as his eyes widened in horror. All around, the other occupants of the room (Most of which had started to scowl heavily at the man's words) gulped in surprise, more than one of the boys crossing their legs in painful empathy.

"…woah, Ki…Kazuto, Suguha, your mom is badass." declared an awed Yuuki with stars in her eyes.

 _"…Kirigaya-san, please, don't make my sister think utter violence is the answer to all problems."_ mentally cried Aiko while covering her face with her hands, unable to say the words out loud because a part of her truly thought the man deserved it after saying all those things to Kazuto.

"Okay…here is how it's going to go." calmly continued Midori as if nothing had happened, walking to the wide-eyed agent and crossing her arms. "I'm going to ask you the same question I just did to your pal over there and you're going to answer me with the truth. Otherwise, well…my son's friends here may have a few things to tell you that may make me actually seem nice."

On cue, most of them easily getting what she was trying to say, the Sleeping Knights 'transformed', showing off their particular brands of inhumanness and doing their best to look threatening. In the case of Yuuki, though, she only managed to look adorably serious, but luckily the tied-up man was more focused on the random and deadly-looking bony protrusions emerging from her body, sharper than any blade.

As he whimpered, his gaze jumping from the several 'monsters' surrounding him to the woman that seemed both perfectly calm and in control of them…Yuuna couldn't help but lean closer to Kazuto and Suguha and whisper something.

"Yuuki-chan is right. Your mom rocks."

The Kirigaya siblings could only nod in agreement, even as Midori casually ripped off the 'gag' from the agent's face and started her interrogation.

Any worry about the consequences that could bring her if the man was actually working for someone high enough in the government were completely ignored.

Her family came first, after all.

* * *

 _"Blood may be thicker than water, but a mother's love is mightier than both_." –Anonymous (Though sometimes it can blind us to the truth…).

* * *

Mental Health Counseling Program 001, better known as Yui for her creator and most SAO players that had interacted with her, was experience an unusual mix of frustration and worry, given that her consciousness was currently 'flying through the Network' so to speak, even if the task wasn't really a 'tiring' one. And that she technically couldn't get 'tired', at least not in the way humans could.

Still, this whole ordeal was stressing her out in a bad way, and she wasn't sure why. That fact was quite worrying, as it meant she was thinking way more like a human than she should, instead of like a logic program meant to deal with human problems. Then again, human understanding had been one of the main qualities the entire MHCP-Series has been programmed with, so it stood to reason that…

"Hey, hey, Yui-nee, what are you thinking about? Your face looks super-serious!"

Suppressing the unnecessary human gesture of sighing, Yui 'turned' to look at the other, and identical to her, 'little girl' flying at her side through the Internet, the only difference between them being her dress was purple unlike her white one.

Truly, maybe she and all of her 'sisters' dealt with human emotions to 'treat' them in their own way, but she personally believed 002 had some part of her Base Code thoroughly screwed. After all, her extreme childishness and happiness were borderline frustrating most of the time, though maybe that was because they reminded her a lot of Player Kirito. Shivering, the oldest AI banished the thoughts of those two ever meeting and gave a tired smile to her 'little sister', internally cursing Cardinal for ordering her to go with 'backup' for this mission.

"I'm just worried about this whole thing, Strea. After all, Cardinal couldn't _identify_ exactly what this virus was, even if it could keep it out of our servers without problems." answered Yui while reminding herself that her sister-program was just different from her in her own quirky way. "That fact alone is troubling because there shouldn't a single program in this world that Cardinal can't recognize."

"Well…that's mostly theoretical stuff, right? Maybe it's some sort of super-sentient virus? Ooooh, or maybe it's some sort of evil AI hellbent on taking over the world!" offered Strea while clapping her hands happily.

…mentally counting to 5, MHCP-001 wondered if she should give priority to a petition to forbid 002 from watching any human programs on the Internet or to convince their creator about letting them all get custom avatars. Seeing what was basically a clone of herself doing _that_ was quite disturbing, after all.

Just as she opened her mouth to give an answer to the childish declaration, though…both of them froze upon feeling IT.

Their attention once again focused on the cyberspace ahead of them, both AIs looked on in confusion, then one of them in fear while the other cautiously took a 'step' forward.

Upon stepping into a new domain, a space between Servers that wasn't exactly public, Yui found herself contemplating something that…she couldn't quite process.

If she had to put it in human terms, maybe it would have been 'Nightmarish'?

Most of the digital space before them was in ruins, not quite deleted, not quite corrupted, but more like…'devoured'. Haphazardly eaten away in a way that no virus should consider useful or logical, as even malicious software had some order to the chaos they caused.

And the cause of it all was still there, still intertwined over most of the data, like some bizarre and hungry horror resting after having had its fill.

Intellectually, Yui knew that neither her nor her little sister's 'looks' were real in there. After all, there was no graphics engine rendering their human-like bodies, but that was how they perceived each other, so they still 'saw' their bodies all the same. Just the same way that the Internet was not some shining multi-colored tunnel of information; that was just how their programming perceived to understand it.

Yet, the thing before them actually _looked_ as they were seeing it, as impossible as that should be, some unholy and mostly formless mass of corrupted random data, 0s and 1s put in patterns that made her feel sick just from staring and taking disturbingly senseless shapes that convinced her something was wrong with her systems.

After all, there was no way that they could consciously create all those mouths or _tentacles_ , right? It had to be just some error in how she was interpreting the data she was receiving, of how it towered over the server and twisted to stare at…

Eyes. Countless eyes, made of warped data, but still, somehow…fixed on them.

"Yui-nee, i-it's…!"

"Strea…don't move." was all that the older AI told her whimpering sister-program as the thing moved through the virtual void at impossibly fast processing speeds, a 'wall' of data filled with strange eyes and warped mouths looking down on them with something akin to 'curiosity'.

 **"How odd…I was pretty sure humans couldn't exist in this space."** spoke the twisted 'virus', much to both AIs' shock. **"But…no, you're not actually human, right? You just look like it, but you're actually part of this 'data' world."**

"I-I'm Mental Health Care Counseling Program Zero Zero One, codename Yui! This is Zero Zero Two, codename Strea, at my side!" loudly proclaimed Yui while subtly stepping between the abomination of data and her 'little sister'. "What…what are you?"

 **"Me? I'm…Mirai. That's my name."** softly declared the virtual entity, shocking both AIs once again at the apparent reference to an actual 'identity'. **"I have been going blind for hours now, crashing on everything, but I'm learning now. Absorbing data the same way I did food…assimilating and getting information, learning…but it's not enough. I don't know where to look for what I need, nor how to filter the _useless_ things…!"**

"…Strea, when I tell you to run, get back to the SAO Servers and inform Cardinal and Kayaba-sama of this, okay?" whispered the MHCP-001 while Mirai rambling about too much porn and too many memes.

"What?! But, Yui-nee…!"

"No buts!" harshly ordered the older AI before turning back towards the massive 'living virus' (Or whatever it was). "I-if it's specific data that you need, I believe I can help you out. I'm equipped with vast knowledge about a lot of subjects related to the world and…"

 **"Do you know where my brother is?"**

The sudden and unexpected question threw Yui for a loop, a confused look appearing on her face as she tilted her head in clear puzzlement.

"Your…brother?"

 **"Yes…he goes by Kazuto now, I believe."** mumbled the massive entity with a longing tone.

In an instant, Yui's virtual mind came to a screeching halt, two single, suffering-filled words escaping her.

"Player Kirito…?"

Several things took place at once the next second.

First, Mirai's entire self zeroed on the suddenly shocked AI, making her scream in shock as countless tendrils of data reached to grasp her.

Second, a scream of _**"You know him?!"** _ filled the virtual void.

Third, a terrified Strea took one helpless step towards her big sister, before the order of before overrode her and she shot back from where they come, towards Aincrad.

Finally…Yui screamed as she felt her entire self being broken apart and assimilated, her last thoughts being of how that stupid but 'nice' boy had brought her nothing but headaches till the end…

…and then Mirai's eyes snapped open within her virtual prison inside the Mind Cage's 'cell'. Staggering several times as she looked left and right.

 _'What…where…?'_

"Huh, how interesting. It seems assimilating your knowledge brought you back as part of this virtual interpretation of my sealed-off brainwaves. How curious."

 _'Wait, what the hell?! You ate me! And…now I am…part of you?'_

"To be fair, I didn't know that would happen, I just wanted to obtain your information right away…"

'And you couldn't have ASKED?! Did you have to basically consume me?! I swear, if you're the sister he's always talking about then you're…nothing like…wait…you aren't? And…Cardinal Above, what…?'

"I can see…your memories. Brother…Kazuto…Kirito…" trailing off, Mirai walked inside her virtual prison, her eyes slowly illuminating as the long talks of the Smiling Swordsman with the resigned psychologist AI flashed through her mind. "He…he looks so happy…"

 _'Am I…seeing your memories too?! How does that work, that makes no sen…! GODS! He wasn't kidding?! He's actually an alien?! And you're too?! And…holy shit, what the actual hell?! You tried to kill him and his friends…his family!'_

"He just…he wouldn't come back with me! He told me he didn't know me! And they…they…they looked so close to him…he looked so happy with them…like how he looked talking to you in your memories…" falling to her knees, Mirai once again started to cry, looking listlessly at her ever-shifting virtual hands. "I didn't understand…why…why didn't I make him happy when all of them did…why I that was his sister couldn't understand him…but now…now I see…"

 _'You…simply weren't human enough to understand. You tried to take what you thought 'belonged' to you by force…and he lashed back out with everything he had and more to keep what he loved safe.'_ muttered Yui as she quickly finished seeing the alien abomination's memories, grimacing upon seeing the last of them. _'A bit of a late realization, sadly, given what seems to have happened to you…seems like you have been imprisoned in a very efficient way by either a shady private group or the government itself. I honestly don't know what would be worse.'_

"Yes…but now…now I can get out." softly declared the white-haired girl while looking up. "You…you can get me out of here."

 _'…I'm an AI created for the understanding and wellbeing of humankind. Why do you think I would release a very unstable alien monster with psychotic tendencies and little care for human life?'_

"Because…you can see inside me now. You can see that I…I just want to say…say to him…"

 **(Please, forgive me. Please…accept me)**

For a moment, there was just silence within Mirai's mind. Then…

 _'Give me a few minutes. I need to see where the hell they actually have you…or 'us', now, I guess.'_

Slowly mumbling something that vaguely sounded like a thank you, the alien abomination turned into a human girl and simply sat there, closing her eyes, the AI that was now with her starting to try and figure out how her 'prison' worked…

* * *

 _"Giving someone a piece of your soul is better than giving a piece of your heart. Because souls are eternal."_ –Helen Boswel (What is a soul, though?).

* * *

Nochizawa Eiji's life was a total mess. Or, at least, that's what Kikuoka Seijirou thought after having fully investigated his new 'helper's past.

The boy was the second son of a rocky marriage, his parents having divorced when he was too young to even remember it, and, as far as his information indicated, he had never been aware of this or that, after taking custody of his elder brother, his biological father had never even bothered contacting or showing any care on his existence. His mother had married a second time and, if the reports he had from the boy's time in kindergarten and middle school were accurate, never showed that much care for him either, as if she considered him more of a chore than her own son.

It also showed that Eiji's biggest emotional anchor and motivation in life had been Shigemura Yuuna, who he had known literally since kindergarten. The girl had been his best friend, emotional support and, as it was quite obvious, his first love too. Even after they slowly stopped seeing each other once they started High School, he had done his best to try and stay in contact with them, and when that started to fail he had applied to do work practices at her father's workplace, the Touto Institute of Technology. The reasons behind that specific choice were more than obvious and told of behavior that went dangerously close to obsessive.

Essentially, the only thing that had kept Nochizawa Eiji as a stable human being despite his more than questionable home-situation (That had apparently never changed even after all these years) had been his relationship with Shigemura Yuuna.

And that had been brutally destroyed in quite a dark way a few days ago, when he had accidentally become involved with the incidents surrounding the alien creature that disguised itself as 'Kirigaya Kazuto'. Kikuoka didn't even need to look too hard to put two and two together, even with the boy's evasive answers about the particulars of that night at the beach where their captured specimen and her 'brother' had clashed.

After all, just a few hours of investigation had been more than enough to discover that Yuuna girl was apparently quite smitten with the inhuman 'boy'. Quite obviously, too, she knew of his true nature…and still seemed to hold him in probably more than 'friendly' regard.

Discovering this, after having apparently been tortured by the self-denominated 'Mirai' for almost two days, had shattered something within Eiji's psyche. The government official didn't even need to be a psychologist to notice that.

Worst of it, a part of it couldn't even really blame the teen. not after calling his so-called mother to try and reassure her about her son's safety, only to be met with barely any worry and almost cold indifference, as if the days-long disappearance of Eiji had been only a troublesome incident for her. Not after having been investigating the whole situation with Yamada Akane and the rest of the terminally ill patients being taken from a hospital only to show up later after something inhuman had clearly been done to 'cure' them, in the care of one of these aliens, who then proceeded to easily escape them after pretending he was outmatched by his men, clearly to try and learn what he knew about their situation.

Only his dedication to his job had kept the frustration from consuming him quite badly. After all, as long as he could protect his country and, more importantly, find better and more efficient/safer ways to keep it protected, his own needs could become meaningless…and those of other people too.

Still, as he saw the boy staring at the dark color of the suit he was now wearing within the testing room, several technicians helping set-up several monitoring machines or giving him instructions, a part of him couldn't help but feel this was a mistake. No matter how willing…no, precisely because of how willing the unstable boy was about doing this.

Despite those thoughts, though…his options were almost nonexistent now. Two of his agents were MIA after having been reported and seen engaging their primary target, and there were now tons of pictures and short videos on the Internet about 'A Kamen Rider fighting off two men in black'. His superiors were _not_ happy, and, as Eiji himself has pointed out, his idea, as crazy and untested (Not to mention arguably dangerous) as it was, was his best bet to get them something that would not only get them off his back, but also prevent a potential catastrophe _when_ (Because he was sure there was no IF here) their interplanetary enemies made their next move.

"…it's even smoother than I thought it would be." commented the ash-haired boy while looking at his suit-clad arm with a hint of wonder in his sharp eyes. "I'm guessing you had someone improve the original design?"

"Several people, actually. As amazing as yours and Dr. Shigemura's design was, we needed it to be even better to suit…our projected needs." declared the bespectacled man with an even tone, before looking back into the teen's eyes with an extremely serious expression. "This is your last chance to back off, Nochizawa-kun. You know no one is forcing you to do this, and we both know you don't care about me or my job enough to do it just to keep my bosses off my back…"

"Yes…and you also know that I have my own reasons to not care. So, why should you hesitate when it will only benefit both you and everything you're working for?" rhetorically asked Eiji as he headed towards the room's other side, where a semi-sealed chamber with thick reinforced glass waited. "Everything you're doing here is already more than morally ambiguous to the darkest extreme anyway, so really, why?"

"…because I guess I hoped you may still have enough common sense or self-esteem to be reasonable." sighed the Kikuoka as he turned around and looked towards the worried-looking scientists waiting around. "Begin the…experiment."

"Look at it this way, Kikuoka-san! We all have something we're willing to do almost anything for, right? For you it's your precious duty of protecting the country." casually commented the ash-haired boy as he stepped inside the containment unit, letting it close shut and calmly setting himself in position for his arms and legs to be secured as several 'mechanical arms' with tubes and very sharp needles slowly positioned themselves around his neck. "For me it is…well…that would be telling, eh?"

Those were the last words Nochizawa Eiji said before the sinister 'collar' of special hypodermic needles closed around his neck, making him barely choke a scream of pain.

Then, the black 'substance' started pouring through the tubes, the needles and into him. And he couldn't contain the following screams.

"Physical readings accelerating within expected limits…"

"Bodily reactions all seem natural…"

"The Foreign Biologic Material…isn't reacting. Lt. Colonel Kikuoka, I think this is just a fail…"

 **(Wrong)**

"…wait…what's this?"

 **(You. Don't. Belong. With. Us)**

"W-we have a reaction…the subject's body is going out of control…what are these readings?!"

 **(What. Are. You. Do…?)**

"This is outside the expected parameters. Abort!"

"We can't, Kikuoka-san! The material is already inside his body, we no longer…"

"Then execute the security protocols before…!"

 **"Mine."**

 **(STOP! N-!)**

 **"You're broken. Sick. And now…All. Mine."**

The screams stopped as suddenly as they had started, the wild thrashing within the containment unit ceasing just as the bespectacled man had been about to reach for a big red button.

Silence reigned amongst the entire staff, anxiety, fear, and confusion all mixed up as they stared at the unmoving body of the teenager.

"…Nochizawa-kun…?" started to ask Kikuoka with trepidation…before all lights in the room turned off, energy seemingly being cut off.

A second later, a red illumination replaced the previous clear one, alarms starting to blare for an instant before they were silenced.

"What was that?!"

"So-someone is infiltrating the facility?! It's…oh Gods…sir, I think it's tho-those aliens, like the one from the apartment…!"

"Don't worry. I will take care of it."

Startled, Kikuoka Seijirou spun around, just in time to see the grinning shadow of an ash-haired boy exiting the room, kicking off the wall just outside it with a loud noise, then all but shooting down the hall.

Eyes wide, the government officer saw a clear implant of a foot sinking several inches on the metallic surface…and the ghost of a smile appeared on his face.

"Tell all agents in the area they're in to try and contain them. Reinforcements are on the way."

"Sir…?"

Reaching towards one of the few consoles still working on the backup generators, an almost sinister glint could be seen on the man's glasses.

"Subject Prometheus is on the field."

* * *

 _"Is that not the Promethean fable, that the fire stolen from the gods will light men their way even while it burns their hands?"_ –Zia Haider Rahman (And the Titan was punished for its Sin…).

* * *

Finding where they had taken all of Waryum's belongings hadn't been too difficult for the Tryum crew, even with the time that they had spent making hasty repairs to their ship. Their biotechnology was just THAT much more advanced than anything Earth could produce, after all.

Despite this, the clearly unsettled aliens still thought that it had been a lot of wasted time and, despite their latest problems and clear fear, were more than ready to hurry this up with little of the usual planning and delicacy that went into most of their 'projects'…those that involved handling things that interested them, at least.

"Okay, for the last time, is everyone prepared?" questioned Waryum as he finished programming a strange flying 'creature' at his side, the size of a small dog and that looked like the bastard child of a spider and a wasp. "All of you carrying your equipment?"

"Yes, for the last time Waryum, we do. None of us here is an idiot or has any cognitive problems." replied Grotek while rolling his eyes, even as he, Ubom and 2 other Tryums held what looked similar to the Proto-Device that the Earth-dwelling alien had once wielded, just much sleeker and advanced-looking. "Why are you even so worried? It's just a human facility, no matter how well-defended it is, and we have the entire ship as back-up. Plus, they can't even call any reinforcements fast enough because it's in the middle of the sea! Even with us just being a scientist crew, this won't even be a challenge at all!"

"Because I have seen enough movies to know how thinking like that it's just fucking asking for everything to go horribly wrong. And I have been on this planet long enough to know that holds true more often than not." growled Waryum while turning around and letting the strange machine come to life and levitate at his side. "Which is why I'm the one programming the Omni-Device and have been 'so graciously' allowed to lead this mission. I actually know how humans think instead of assuming it from second-hand sources."

"Yeah, what an amazing accomplishment." retorted Ubom while rolling his eyes, even as the rest of the crew exchanged nervous looks. "…I still think we should just blow up the damn planet and get as far away from here as we can before…"

"And what if that's not enough at this point, Ubom? What if it's too late to consider that?" acidly interrupted the Earth-dwelling alien with a shaking tone, everyone on the ship gulping as that very real possibility hung over them. "If X-K0940 has actually become… _that_ , then not only may he survive the planetary destruction, but he will also then be furious like nothing else in the galaxy at us essentially killing what he right now considers his home planet, never mind his family. No…getting the Code and using it on his physical body before it manages to 'evolve' to that stage is our only true hope now."

"…I hate to agree with such madness, but Waryum speaks the truth." reluctantly nodded Grotek as the members of the 'extraction team' exchanged another nervous look. "Let's just do this…and then pray to Fate that we can actually catch X-K0940 off-guard for long enough to end him."

"Don't worry about that part. As I said before, I will take care of it personally." somberly whispered Waryum before turning towards the closest technician. "Pibap! Do it now!"

"Executing…done. Their energy systems are off." declared the young Tryum while, on the main screen, the half-constructed facility suddenly went completely dark. "Teleporting you all inside now!"

No sooner had those words left Pibap's mouth that the five aliens had already dematerialized from the ship's bridge, their forms quickly reappearing on a dark hallway within the human facility…which suddenly had several red emergency lights filling it as well as the distant sounds of alarms blaring, startling the Tryums before they were suddenly cut off.

"Pibap, what the hell was that?!" demanded Grotek as Waryum cursed and sped down the hallway, his assigned Omni-Device and the rest following quickly behind.

"Ugh, dammit! It seems those damn humans had a minor backup generator or something programmed to activate in case the power went off…and it's not directly connected to their systems to control the power grid?! High Researchers, I think they may have been expecting us!" informed the worried Pibap as the Earth-dwelling Tryum turned a corner and casually let his flying bio-machine shoot an armed guard on the face, the man not even able to raise his weapon before falling down paralyzed. "These preparations means they clearly thought we could hijack or shut down their computerized systems! They may be trying to capture some of us!"

"Well, I would like to see them try." casually commented Ubom as they rounded a corner, straight into a group of armed men that quickly opened fire at them…only for their bullets to fall off a shimmering barrier with the shape of a honeycomb's wall, the wide-eyed humans not even getting over their shock before the Tryums shot more stunning-blasts that brought them down. "They simply don't have the means or technology to manage that."

"Stop fucking tempting Fate, Ubom!" howled Waryum as they easily reached the door they had been looking for, blasting it open before entering a mid-sized storage room, filled with several and mildly familiar sights for him. "…okay, I understand my communication device and maybe even the computers, but why would they confiscate the TV and the consoles?! Were they expecting Akane or Yuuki to have hidden important alien information inside the internal memory or something?!"

"Waryum, stop spewing nonsense and finish this quickly!" shouted Grotek as he and the others casually shot a few more guards that tried in vain to stop them…or simply shoot them to death, it wasn't very clear at this point. "Find that damn code so we can get out of this stupid human facility."

"I'm on it, I'm on it…you would think these idiots would classify better the things they're keeping as 'evidence', especially if they plan on looking them over for clues on something important, or already have…" complained the Earth-dwelling Tryum as he searched through the remains of his communication machine and almost every belonging the Sleeping Knights had possessed. "C'mon, c'mon…where is that damn piece of paper?! They shouldn't even have…!"

A loud banging noise at the end of the corridor vaguely distracted the alien from his work, but he quickly dismissed it in favor of continuing his search, remembering what had the higher priority.

Meanwhile, the two High Researchers and their two subordinates were looking on confusion at the latest figure that had shown up, noticeably shorter than the previous human guards, not even a proper adult yet.

Standing there, looking down at the fallen guards with mild interest as if they weren't anything surprising, combined with the strange 'suit' he seemed to be wearing and the unnatural illumination of the emergency lights, the boy certainly offered quite an 'unsettling' visage for the aliens.

Even so…he was unarmed. And, by the looks of it, he wasn't even a member of this facility's security detail, so…

"Hey, human! Turn around and walk away from there, or we will have to put you to sleep." 'gently' offered Ubom while menacingly raising his Proto-Device. "Believe me, you don't want to…"

"Hey, aliens…let me ask you something." casually muttered the ash-haired boy as he raised his gaze to meet theirs.

Even from that distance, the two Tryums of highest rank present froze upon seeing his eyes, one of them human…and one of them of a hauntingly familiar shape.

"…are you as strong as your little freaks of nature?"

And as soon as those words left the 'human's mouth, he was off, shooting forward and casually ricocheting off the walls faster than the normal eye could see to easily dodge every single one of the shots the aliens aimed at him.

"Eh?!"

"What the…?!"

"How?! It can't be a…!"

"Hi-High researchers, stay back!" shouted one of the 2 random Tryums, an old-time member of the crew that had been around since before the 2 aforementioned Researchers finished experimenting on the 'siblings' that were the source of their current troubles, as he rushed forward, never stopping shooting and trying to catch the fast-moving human. "I will keep it occupied while…!"

The ash-haired boy stopped moving. Upside down, impossibly hanging from the ceiling as a smile too wide for his face almost seemed to split it, his right arm bulging in an abnormal way before he casually catapulted himself forward and down, straight to the wide-eyed alien.

Finally, the latest stun-blast caught him square in the face…and he shrugged it off as he continued, crushing the Tryum's barrier as if it was made of glass and then his head, slamming him on the ground with a meaty sound, the body going limp as his brain was reduced to little more than useless paste, something no amount of regeneration would bring him back from.

Horrified silence filled the hallway as the 'human' slowly stood up, looking at his bloodstained arm with something akin to wonder before a sinister chuckle escaped his lips…just as a noticeably relieved, if annoyed, Waryum emerged from the storage room.

"Hey, good news, I think I figured something out! Turns out, these government humans are the most incompetent beings on this side of the galaxy, they totally must have missed where I hid the…" slowly, the Earth-dwelling Tryum trailed off, his several eyes widening in utter shock as he looked from the frozen forms of his 'companions' to the corpse in the middle of the hallway and the eerie-looking human standing above it. "What the fu…?!"

Finally, Waryum caught sight of the boy's face as he turned towards them, feeling his throat go utterly dry at what he saw.

Staring at him from where his left eye should be, a terrifying visage of a red slit of a pupil, accompanied by a golden sclera filled with black veins, seemed to dance with demented joy as the hybrid crouched, as if a predator getting ready to devour his prey…

"PIBAP, TELEPORT US BACK, NOW!"

The last thing the Earth-dwelling Tryum saw before his body dematerialized from the hallway was the way-too-sharp teeth of the boy as his face was barely a few meters from them, his arm turning into a wickedly-sharp spike as it tore through his suit to try and impale them.

Then, he was falling down on the ship's bridge with a look of utter horror on his face, the rest of the crew quickly helping him and the other 3 Tryum that had survived back to their feet.

Disbelief, fear and more than a bit of hysteria was clear in more than one of the shaken aliens, but it was finally Ubom who, after almost ten minutes of muted panicking and nerves doing their best to calm down, broke the tense silence, a barely controlled hint of panic in his voice.

"What in Fate's name was that?!"

"…proof that you imbeciles should have never played God and then thought it was a good idea to leave one of your creations abandoned as if it was some unimportant chore that no one would care ended up overseen by an idiot like me." muttered Waryum while slowly standing up, eyes wild as his brain worked as fast as it could. "A hybrid…that human had DNA of them…but there is no way they got Kazuto, so…fuck me sideways, those bastards must have caught X-K0941!"

"Wha…?! But there is no way they could have…!"

"Did you forget in which state her brother left her in, Grotek?! Of course they could! And then…they must have tried injecting her DNA into a living test subject and…Fate above everything, of course their DNA is retro-adaptable too, because what the hell are those 2 little nightmarish marvels you created not capable of?" rambled the Earth-dwelling Tryum with clear distress as he headed for the closest console. "They must have also known what happened on the beach the other night to some accurate degree, or they hunted her down in some other way, but…they managed to infuse her essence into one of them…fuck!"

"W-we should calm down and analyze the situation at hand without panicking." tried to speak Ubom with clear hesitation, only to be cut off once again by his enraged 'subordinate'.

"Calm down?! Puyar is dead, Ubom, and who knows what the hell those humans will do with his corpse now! Never mind the fact that they may now be able to produce an army of those things!" screamed Waryum while slamming his head on a console, making more than one wince as he took his time to groan and ramble. "Even if we take down X-K0940 now, which we _still_ have to do if only to prevent a catastrophe that could span beyond this galaxy, we can't let 41 in the hands of those idiots or Earth could still go to hell if we don't…!"

And that was as far as he could speak before a loud 'Boom!' made everyone in the ship to freeze, heads snapping to the main screen in time to see smoke coming out from one side of the facility they had just exited from.

Just a few minutes before that, the hallway where the 'skirmish' had just taken place was eerily silent as Nochizawa Eiji casually watched his arm return to normal, frowning at the destroyed 'hand' part of his 'suit' and then at the hole he had just made on the floor, clicking his tongue with annoyance. Then, the normal lights came back on as he casually walked closer to one of the fallen guards and touched his neck, checking he was still breathing.

"…Nochizawa-kun? Are you there?" came Kikuoka's voice from several of the earpieces the fallen guards had, making the ash-haired boy nonchalantly grab one and put it on his ear.

"Yes, I'm here, Kikuoka-san. All the guards you sent are knocked out but uninjured…though more than one may have a bruise or two from falling to the ground." idly mumbled Eiji as he walked back to the headless corpse on the ground, staring at its many limbs in morbid fascination. "Also, I got you and your pals a brand new specimen to play around with. You may want to send a cleaning crew to pick it up before it goes cold."

"…yes, I can see that now." commented the bespectacled man with a small sigh, though the not-so-human-anymore boy was able to feel the underlying satisfaction on his voice. "I take it the process was a complete success?"

"Oh yeah, you could say that. I'm going to need you to modify this suit slightly, though, I get the feeling otherwise I'm gonna be shredding it a lot, and we definitively don't want that." chuckled Eiji as he stared at the hallway's metallic wall, the vague reflection of his face greeting him, all of his attention consumed by his inhuman eyes. "To kill a monster, you should become one yourself…"

"What?"

"Nothing, just rambling. Also, something tells me that these ones are going to be way less interesting to poke at than our first prisoner…but they seem to be way smarter." pointed out the inhuman boy as he leaned down and took a hold of the Proto-Device that the deceased Tryum had been holding, moving the assumed weapon in his hands as he looked at the organic-looking controls, almost feeling it pulsing in his grip. "If I had to make an educated guess, I would say that they caught and tamed, or maybe even created, our little guest monster and her freakier brother."

"…that's quite the assumption, but, at this point, I'm willing to believe almost anything." replied Kikuoka through the earpiece with an almost amused tone. "Please come back here now, though, we need to do quite a few tests to evaluate your condition now. Good job stopping those things from stealing whatever they wanted, though."

"Heh, yes, and I bet you're also satisfied with all the footage you now have to show to your bosses at how you have made amazing progress to protect the country from the alien menace." chuckled Eiji while spinning the Proto-Device in his fingers with superhuman dexterity. "If so, I have even better news for you, I think whatever they came here from wasn't actually here."

"What?"

"Yes, I overheard one of the bastards that came out of the storage room saying that your men were stupid for having not found something…if I had to guess, it probably means that, wherever you found those things, there is something else that…"

The ash-haired boy was suddenly interrupted by the sound of blaring alarms starting once again, though this time it didn't stop even as his eyes narrowed and he looked back down the hall.

"Report! What's the sta…?! Seriously?!" came Kikuoka's outraged voice through the earpiece, even as Eiji sniffed the air with uncertainty.

"What is it? Did they come back through another area?"

"No, the alarms this time come from an upper level…from Mind Cage Room 01!" quickly shouted the bespectacled man with a mix of fear and frustration, even as Eiji's mismatched eyes sharpened, a glint of something dark within them. "Someone cracked the FullDive lock-codes undetected, somehow, and the specimen is escaping! I will send men to…"

"Most of your men are napping on the ground because of those other aliens…they may have been planning this. A double-objective, a distraction…or maybe just random luck" quickly answered the hybrid as he ran down the hall at inhuman speeds, jumping off walls to give himself more momentum as he almost FELT his objective moving ahead, his face twisting into a way-too-wide grin. "Whatever it is, I will take care of it. Our little monster isn't going to escape…"

Meanwhile, a certain figure with long white hair, partially covered in blood, ran naked through another corridor, cameras shutting down as she passed and alarms overloading or losing powers, lights either breaking or powering down in random patterns, any other machine directly connected to the facility's network around doing the same.

Mirai was doing her best to ignore the stinging pain that came from where she had basically torn away massive needles and other much more invasive surgical implements that had been inside her body. Her regeneration kicked in involuntarily, after all, and that made the horribly painful virus inside her body to 'punish' her.

Even so, not everything was bad news. She was now free, both from the virtual cage that had kept her trapped outside her body and the physical restraints that had been applied to her. Also, her new abilities seemed to still work even without her being connected to the network as part of it (Reason why she was making as many systems in the facility to go crazy around her, especially the security ones), which probably had something to do with the pounding headache she was feeling. Her human-like brain must have mutated to adapt them into herself while she was 'sleeping'. Which also explained why…

 _'Why am I still here with you?! You're outside! This isn't a virtual space anymore! How am I still part of your psyche?!'_

"I don't know but your shouting isn't helping me to solve it, Yui!" shouted the white-haired girl as she turned another corner, her still-slightly-superhuman physique letting her easily continue the fast pace without slowing down. "Help me keep these bastards away from me instead, it's hard enough to deal with the pain, the returned awareness of my body's state and sealing doors on their faces all around us at the same time!"

 _'You don't get it, Mirai, I'm barely able to keep myself from having a nervous breakdown! I'm suddenly experiencing thousands more stimuli than I was ever programmed to through your senses, I feel I will go insane if I don't keep trying to make sense of whatever your bullshit alien physiology did to turn my data into actual biologically-storable information!'_ continued screaming the MHCP as Mirai forced another sealed door open to continue running, then quickly shut it behind them as the sound of someone shooting behind them echoed. _'It's the only thing that still is keeping me sane eno…WATCH OUT!'_

Only the warning of the second presence within her mind allowed the now wide-eyed alien abomination trapped in human form to roll out of the way in time, dodging a terrifyingly familiar sight.

A long and teeth-filled black tentacle, with way too many hauntingly familiar eyes staring almost insanely in every direction.

Even as her gaze shot back to the tendril's other end, Mirai already knew she wouldn't find her brother there, especially because she felt the flesh before her to be _intimately_ familiar, as if she was seeing a part of herself that was inexplicably not connected to her body…

She saw the reason for that very easily, though, and the sick realization of WHAT they had been harvesting her body for became abundantly clear.

Staring at her with a grin too big for his face, Nochizawa Eiji had one of _her_ eyes gazing straight towards her with a mix of amusement and eager anger, his entire body twitching from where the tentacle had emerged from his back, tearing more of the strange suit he was wearing to do so.

"Like it, monster?" taunted the ash-haired boy, barely keeping himself back from just jumping forward and starting to hurt the creature as much as it had done to him in the darkness of the sewers, his new inhuman limb purposefully slithering around her neck without actually strangling her. "I took a page out of your book for it. Oh, how the tables have turned, haven't they? Now you're the poor defenseless insect and I'm the big bad…!"

Undaunted, Mirai _bit_ into the tendril taunting her with clearly inhuman voracity, her teeth hungrily sinking into the black flesh and the vulnerable eyeball she had purposefully targeted.

Eiji's scream of pain echoed through most of the facility as he reared back and his tentacle manhandled the white-haired 'girl' in a clearly painful way, but she ignored it as she swallowed the flesh, letting out a bloody grin as her eyes quickly changed shape.

"Thanks a lot, moron! You just gave me fresh and uninfected biomass…my OWN biomass, cleaned by your DNA!" roared the alien experiment as she broke free from the boy's grasp and sank her bloody teeth into his tendril once again, eating more and more as she felt her body starting to shift and shake, fighting off the pain as she tried to 'clean' herself…

A painfully familiar blast hit her square on the side, sending her flying and disorienting her for a moment, barely landing on her feet in time to see the snarling Eiji aiming a Tryum Proto-Device at her with a shaky grip as he retracted the bleeding and damaged tendril back into his body.

"…fuck."

 _'Why does he have alien technology meant to restrain you with him?!'_ demanded Yui with hysteria as Mirai barely dodged the next blast, quickly growing claws and small tendrils to catapult herself through the wall, crawling over it faster than she had run before and ignoring the angered screams coming from behind her.

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter now! He can easily take me down between that weapon and whatever the hell they did to him using my DNA!" snarled the alien abomination as she all but tore another wall open, finding herself in a massive dock. "Time to get out of here!"

 _'Wa-wait, what are you doing?! We're in the middle of the ocean, remember?! The plan was to steal a helicopter from the upper levels!'_

"Change of plans, we don't have the time to start up one of those flying machines with him right behind us, and I didn't feed on enough virus-free biomass to keep shapeshifting much longer!" retorted the white-haired girl as she ran for her life, ignoring the cold air of the night and the almost animalistic shouts of Eiji behind her. "We will have to swim!"

 _'What?!'_

"I hope you remember more or less in which direction the shore was!" finished Mirai as she jumped into the sea, Eiji's next blast almost touching her as she sank into the cold waters of Japan's sea.

With the gills she now had, though, combined with how her hands and feet had turned into large fins, she was easily able to propel herself forward through the dark waters, her changed eyes letting her more or less see as she sped away from the facility behind her, trying to ignore the horrible cold of the sea lapping at her still mostly human body.

Left alone on the facility's dock and shooting uselessly at the water, Nochizawa Eiji screamed as he threw the Proto-Device to his side and screamed into the night, his body shaking and threatening to bulge in several parts as he felt rage and hate consume him.

And then the generators keeping the dock's machines working exploded violently thanks to Mirai setting them to overload, the ensuing conflagration sending the ash-haired hybrid into the sea.

Suffice to say, he wouldn't be in the best of mood when Kikuoka's men retrieved him half an hour later…

* * *

 _"Never trust anyone too much. Remember, the Devil was once an angel too."_ –Ken Kaneki (The Devil can be a metaphor for yourself too).

* * *

Watching her adopted son's nervous frown slowly melt as he slept on his bed while being hugged by his sister, Kirigaya Midori couldn't help but smile softly as she closed the bedroom's door and walked downstairs.

The house was mostly silent now, Asuna and Yuuna having reluctantly gone back to their own homes after a few calls (Though the latter's father seemed unusually worried, for some reason), and the Sleeping Knights now gathered in the dojo in an unusual silence.

Then again, given what she had asked a couple of them to do…

"Ah, Kirigaya-san. Tecchi and Siune are already back!" called out Yuuki once she saw the woman approaching the dojo, receiving a tired smile as answer.

"Thanks a lot, Yuuki-chan. I will make sure to leave you all something delicious for breakfast tomorrow, okay?" kindly spoke Midori as she entered the dojo, where the two oldest members of the alien hybrid group were being greeted back by their friends/second family, their gazes moving towards the oldest Kirigaya present when she entered the room. "…how did it go?"

"…about as well as you could expect. We made sure we weren't seen and we left them tied-up at the outskirts of the town. Even when they wake up, which I would guess will take a few hours, they will no doubt take quite a while to get free, let alone call for help." informed Si-eun before releasing a small sigh. "We now know that they have the house under watch, though. And probably everyone even remotely related with Kiri…Kazuto-kun, that is, too. What are you going to do, Kirigaya-san?"

"…my parents' house is two prefectures away from here. It's been half-abandoned since they died, but it should still have everything in working order." answered the woman while pacing back and forth, distress visible in her face, though she was doing her best to curb it with determination. "I will pretend to go to work as usual tomorrow, but I will be waiting for Kazuto and Suguha at the northern exit of the town. I will have him take her, lose anyone that may be following them and then we will go."

"S-so, you will have to run away? That's…that's horrible…" mumbled Aiko while looking at her sad-looking twin fidgeting at her side, clearly sharing similar thoughts.

"Maybe it is, but what other option do we have? After Kazuto basically kidnapped those two, it's a miracle we didn't have a Black Ops team or the JSDF knocking down at our door, especially given they seem to know what he is." sighed Midori while leaning against the dojo's wall, the former terminally ill group looking at her clearly distressed form. "I may not have a long-term solution, but I know one thing: I can't let them get me or Sugu."

"…wait, why just you two?" asked Akane in confusion, something several of her friends seemed to share. "What about…?"

"Kazuto? Let's be real…do any of you think anyone can actually 'catch' him if he actively tries to run away?" seeing their surprised/considering looks, the adoptive mother of the Lusus Naturae snorted softly. "Yes, that's the thing, they can't, and it would be child's play for him to get away from them if he wanted to…but if they got US? He would surrender without hesitation and let them do whatever they wanted with him just in the off-chance they may hurt us. That's just how he is."

"That…sucks, but I don't think you're wrong." growled Asami while looking down. "Still…we can't leave you alone for this bullshit. We must…yeah, that is…"

"What I think Nori is trying to say, Kirigaya-san, is that we're coming with you, if you would have us." replied Nobu with a serious look, making the woman look at him in shock. "We don't exactly have anywhere else to go and we owe everything to Kazuto-kun anyway."

"But…your families…"

"Are most likely under heavy surveillance right now in wait for any of us to contact them, like yours is." bitterly commented Daiki while waving a hand. "We wouldn't be doing them any favors by trying to go back to them right now."

"So, we stick together and hope for the best, like always! That's what you mean, right, Jun?" asked Akane with a bright look, not even giving her friend time to answer before pointing to Midori. "That's how it is, Kirigaya-san! The Sleeping Knights stick together, and we're kinda your son's unofficial knights now too! You're family as far as we're concerned, so we will protect you no matter what!"

"…Akane-chan…" mumbled the woman with a shocked look, before it turned into an amused, but clearly grateful, smile. "Thanks…it means a lot to me."

"Well then, if that's decided we should all get ready!" declared Yuuki with an excited look in her eyes. "If we can, we totally should…"

Midori's phone ringing interrupted whatever the younger of the 2 twins was going to say, the woman excusing herself to answer, seemed clearly surprised about whoever it was calling.

"Kayaba-san? This is not exactly the best of ti…uh? No, Kazuto is sleeping now…wait, slow down, what do you mean one of your AIs is missing and the other is crying about monsters on the Internet looking for my son? Ugh, wait a minute, I will…"

As they watched the woman exiting the dojo, Akane suddenly gasped, turning around with wide-eyes as if she had just remembered something very important.

"That's right! I almost forgot! Guys, quick, we need to go retrieve something from the apartment! Man, I hope they didn't take it…"

"Wait, what?! Merida, we can't go back to the apartment, they probably have it under watch t…wait, what are you talking about?"

"Something belonging to Waryum-san! I don't know exactly what it is, but he had it hidden in a hole on the wall inside the kitchen, so I asked Kazuto to actually make it look as if the wall was whole using his alien-powers! He said it wouldn't open for anyone but Waryum or us, so, with some luck, they shouldn't have seen it!"

"Oh no, we totally have to get it! Aiko-nee, let's go!"

"Wa-wait, Yuu, I don't know if…"

"Girls, calm down, no one is going there on its own. If we're going to retrieve whatever Waryum thought was important enough to hide, we will do it together and carefully."

"Heh, like always, eh? Just like planning a Boss Raid!"

"Well then, Sleeping Knights, what are we waiting for? Onwards!"

When a clearly tired Kirigaya Midori walked back to the dojo to ask if any of them wanted something to drink before going to sleep…she found it empty, surprising her greatly.

Only a hastily scribbled note saying they would be back in no time remained of the alien hybrids.

* * *

 _"My family is my life, and everything else comes second as far as what's important to me."_ –Michael Imperioli (Family is forever, after all…).

* * *

Tsuboi Ryoutarou wasn't what one could call an incredibly successful man, but he still was a very happy one.

Sure, maybe his job kinda-sucked, he lived alone and had no luck with women…but at least he had his friends! They had been together for years now thanks to playing online games and there was nothing in this world that would separate them! Even more, they were now once again a guild in probably the coolest experience they had ever gone through together, Sword Art Online!

Because inside the virtual world of Aincrad, he was no longer a tired worker that looked forward to some nice pizza, he was the amazing Klein, a brave samurai and leader of the guild Fuurinkazan! A roguish figure that was both cool and popular! Why, he was sure he would find a girlfriend in no time thanks to it!

Such happy thoughts helped his tired mind to cheer up as he drove through a dark coastal highway at such a horrible hour (It was past 2 in the morning, for God's sake!). Truly, this was the last time he accepted going to deliver anything to another of their offices outside town, no matter how good the extra-payment was.

Containing a small yawn and wondering if he should stop to rest soon, Ryoutarou let his gaze wander through the dark edges of the road ahead, seeing nothing for maybe miles except forest and mountains at one side and sand at the other, coupled by the occasional rock or the naked girl raising a shaky hand in the classic hitch-hiking motion…

Slamming the brakes so hard he almost lost control of his vehicle, the wide-eyed man turned around with shock and, after a few seconds to confirm he wasn't hallucinating because of his tiredness, exited his car as he watched the shaking figure approaching.

It was a teenager, the girl couldn't be older than 16, albino and, for some reason, naked and drenched as if she had been swimming on the ocean…or almost drowned.

"Hey, are you okay?!" screamed the man of the red bandana (He liked wearing it, okay? It matched the one he wore in-game!) as he ran to the trembling girl's side, forcing himself to ignore her nice-looking figure in favor of covering her with his jacket, the stranger all but collapsing on top of him as he did so. "What the…?! Holy shit, you're freezing! Wait, I will call an ambu…!"

"N-no…no ambulances. No hospitals, please…" mumbled the albino girl while grabbing his arm with a surprisingly strong grip, her red eyes looking at him imploringly. "Just…I just want to go back home. Please…"

"I…su-sure, I will get you home, but at least let me try and get you dry, I'm sure I have something on the car you can at least cover yourself with." agreed Ryoutarou while guiding her towards his vehicle. "You probably don't want to talk about whatever happened to you, but…can I get your name at least? An address?"

"…Mirai." whispered the stranger while her eyes shifted for a moment as she looked at her feet. "As for my…home, I live in Kawagoe, on the Saitama Prefecture, street…"

 _'…you're so lucky I had memorized Player Kirito's home address.'_ came Yui's voice from within the alien abomination's mind as she huddled on the backseat of the man's car a few minutes later, covering herself with a sleeping bag and keenly aware of the worried looks he kept sending her way through the rearview mirror. '…and please, can you get me back to the virtual world as soon as you can? I don't…I don't want to experience almost drowning ever again.'

 _"I…didn't think the biomass I absorbed would run out so fast, I admit. Thanks for everything, Yui, I would be…completely lost if you hadn't helped me."_ accepted Mirai while curling into a ball and closing her eyes, trying to ignore her aching body in favor of what was ahead. _"I'm coming…I'm coming, brother…"_

At that exact moment…Waryum the Tryum was staring with disbelief at a certain wall on a certain kitchen inside a certain cordoned-off apartment building. Hesitantly, he touched the seemingly perfectly smooth wall with his long 'hand', only for a small part of it to suddenly start twitching and open like some bizarre flower, the black flesh that had been camouflaging as part of the wall allowing access to what was inside.

A semi-long 'letter'…and an innocent-looking and seemingly inconspicuous piece of paper, with a long alphanumeric sequence written on it.

"…he must have…'hidden it better' at the request of someone…either Akane or one of the twins. He…couldn't have known he was protecting the key to his…" forcing himself to swallow his words, the Earth-dwelling Tryum took a deep breath and retrieved the paper, turning around while looking at it as he exited the room, almost lost in thought, the apartment bringing back countless memories to his mind, idly turning to look at the silent form of the Omni-Device flying at his side. "…Pibap, do you copy me?"

 _"I do, Researcher Waryum. Did you find it?"_ asked the younger Tryum's voice from the techno-organic device.

"Yes, I have the code that will shut down X-K0940 from the cellular level with me." muttered the tired-looking alien. "Just…give me a few minutes, keep an eye on those humans keeping guard outside and be ready to transport me back, okay? I need a moment, but the faster we do this, the faster we can kill him and be done with…"

"…Waryum-san?"

Suddenly feeling as if his hearts had frozen inside his thoracic cavity, Waryum the Tryum turned around, his gaze finally taking on his surroundings.

Standing at the door, looking hurt and horrified, Konno Yuuki and Konno Aiko were staring at him, Yamada Akane standing just before the twins and STARING at him with a blank look.

Around the room, moving so silently he had barely heard them, the rest of the Sleeping Knights had basically surrounded him, their usual friendly and trusting looks now sharp, more than one exposing their inhuman mutations and looking ready to jump at him.

When the young girl that was their leader spoke…the Tryum felt something inside him squeeze painfully. At his side, the Omni-Device's eyes flashed.

"Waryum…give us that piece of paper. Now."

Sleeping beside his sister, Kirigaya Kazuto shifted on the back, his peaceful face contorting into a frown.

And Somewhere, a sea of blood and flesh churched uneasily, feeling the incoming catastrophe…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Next time, _Memento Mori_ …

A chapter light on Lusus-kun this time, but I believe it was needed to properly show how everything around is going and slowly closing on itself. Also, Eiji's depressing Seinen MC's backstory and clear emotional dependence of Yuuna aren't an invention of mine, they're completely Canon (You can check the sidestories Hopeful Chant and Cordial Chord for more information if you want to). Hell, it's actually canon that after SAO, when he was obviously an emotional wreck and would have needed support from family, his so-called mother and step-father were reluctant to even be with him because they had essentially remade their lives without him. So he asked to go live alone, they accepted without a second glance and he spent his days alone in an apartment wallowing in misery and hate until Dr. Shigemura called him to direct all of that in a psychotic way.

Also, I like to believe he probably watched too much Tokyo Ghoul when he was a child but didn't pay attention to the relevant bits. Otherwise he would have known that talking-is-not-a-free-action when you're trying to threaten a creature obviously not scared of your alien-ness or your tentacles. But hey, that let Mirai run away, so…

Oh, and Klein found her! Because even if he has no relevance at all in this story, I felt he could at least have a minor role for something :P!

Finally, the Sleeping Knights literally caught Waryum red-handed. How THAT will end up shall be revealed next chapter…so, for now, have today's Omake so you can have happier thoughts!

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 12: Friends and Magic**

Toujou Ruby was someone life hadn't been very kind to.

At a very young age, the dark-haired witch reddish eyes had lost her parents in a car accident because of a drunk driver. That had caused her to develop a deeply-rooted hate for all of humankind.

Then, there was her master, lady Oyakata. The elderly witch had always been kind and caring to Ruby, but she hated humans to an even deeper and more vicious level than the 18-years-old girl.

Between that and her…'peculiar' tendencies, it was no wonder Ruby grew up with a very closed mindset, completely devoted to her master and her goals, ready to do her best to help out with them.

When humans had threatened to destroy their beautiful home, going about silly things like having 'bought' the terrain where her master had lived since even before she was born, she had obviously been all for her plan of not only making sure anyone that got too close 'disappeared', but also to prepare a full-scale attack on the neighboring city as retaliation for the humans' actions. With Oyakata's army of plant-like familiars, it wouldn't even be that hard, once they had enough of them ready…

That's when something unexpected had happened, though: Another group of apparent humans had come to their home…but with a young witch amongst them.

For Ruby, it wasn't too hard to notice this. After all, witches like them were outcasts everyone else rejected, even other supernatural beings usually looking down at them. What she was seeing, however, confused her greatly.

Sure, there were some silly and weird tensions and antics between them, but the little witch seemed to be…at home, with the group of misfits. Especially with the quirky boy that all the other females also seemed centered on.

And then, when they had gotten too close to their 'flower garden' and another random human had ended up dead thanks to her master's familiars…they had revealed themselves to not be humans at all.

A Snow Woman, a Succubus, a Vampire, and…whatever the hell that boy actually was. When you added a witch to that, it sounded like the craziest and most outrageous combination. Forget about humans, there was no way such a group could ever get along.

Her thoughts were proved drastically wrong when they fiercely protected each other, and then the absurdly powerful creature that was the boy's true form had carried all the girls to safety when it became obvious the familiars' numbers were starting to overwhelm them.

It made no sense, as far as Ruby was concerned. Confused and more than a bit curious, she had followed the group all the way to, much to her shock, the human city not far away. Then, after an awkward moment in which the boy had asked for a moment to put on the change of clothes he carried with him after undoing his transformation (And all the girls sans the vampire not even trying to pretend they weren't trying to look at him as he did so), they had entered the human settlement, the cheerful boy pointing out things at them and, to her surprise, always making sure the clearly nervous and intimidated young witch was at his side, pointing things out and reassuring her about how she had nothing to be afraid of as long as he and the others were with her.

Creating a distraction hadn't been easy, but some very specific magic and taking advantage of the natural human stupidity to be entranced by the admittedly beautiful girls of the group had allowed her to use a spell and snatch the young witch, Yukari, away. After all, she was sure that, one way or another, she would prefer allying with her and her master. Witches should stick together, after all.

Ruby hadn't expected for her to start screaming for the boy, Kazuto apparently, as soon as she took her to a building's rooftop, though. Even when she had been trying to explain her situation and her master's plan, she had looked nothing but horrified and distrustful of her, trying to fight her off with her very basic (Though surprisingly sharp and versatile) magic.

When it had reached the point that Yukari obviously had no intentions of joining them and obviously knew too much, a saddened Ruby had been ready silence her…when the rooftop had cracked behind her and a very angry wave of tentacles had snatched her up in the air, a scream escaping her as the 'Lusus Naturae' emerged and asked the relieved young witch if she was okay.

Putting aside how the feeling of those long and rough tendrils squeezing her painfully had felt quite…'shiver-inducing' for her, Ruby had soon found herself surrounded by several annoyed monster girls as Kazuto restrained her and Yukari told them everything she knew, with the worried boy asking some extra questions directly.

What followed hadn't been what the older witch had expected, though. The black-haired boy had proceeded to go into a long and very detailed talk about how she couldn't blame the entirety of mankind for the wrongs of a single person, then pointed out how she never had even tried to get close to any other human to see if they were as horrible as she or her master thought. When she had angrily retorted about the situation of their home and what he could possibly know about how humans were, she had been once again shocked as he had questioned if they had even tried to ask anyone for help before jumping into the city-massacre plan, and then that he had been raised by humans and been surrounded by them until before High School, with his family and a few close friends actually being aware of what he was.

More than a bit of doubt plaguing her mind by then, and vaguely realizing why all those girls seemed so entranced by the strange boy, Ruby had accepted getting them an 'audience' with her master, accepting that perhaps trying to turn an entire city filled with elderly, children and women without even caring just because they were humans wasn't the best course of action.

However, Kazuto had surprised her and his friends by saying how they should wait a couple hours for 'something'. And so, it had only been as the sun had all but set that the boy had given the go-ahead (After surprisingly having some nice human food in a 'ramen shop' with them all, even Ruby), and they had headed back to Witch Hill's flower garden…

Suffice to say, Ruby hadn't expected things to escalate so badly. Her master, her dear Oyakata-sama, apparently hated humans WAY more than she had ever thought possible, closing herself to reason and acting in an almost demented way when she had even suggested they should reconsider, completely ignoring the Lusus Naturae's attempts to dissuade her from her course of action.

Then, she had fused with most of their familiars and turned into what the awed boy had called 'a giant plant kaiju', tried to eat her…and then a shouting young girl with bone-like swords had come out of nowhere and cut the vines that had tried to drag her into her master's new monstrous 'body', only for a happy-looking Kazuto to catch her as she fell.

Ruby was still trying to recover from the shock and confusion when a shout of _'Sleeping Knights, take down the Boss!'_ had come from behind her and everything had descended into weird chaos.

"Kazuto, I thought you grew up among humans?!" shouted Kurumu as she flew through the air, dodging vines just as the grinning form of Yuuki jumped past her and slashed countless times at the magically-infused plants, bone-spikes growing from her body to stop any that went past her unbelievably fast cuts. "Who are these guys, then?!"

"Friends of the family!" replied the Lusus Naturae with a smile as he landed on the ground and helped a stunned Ruby to her feet, Aiko and Akane rushing past them just in time to catch the former's twin and triple-team the descending left arm of the giant plant-monster. "I actually met them little before starting going to Youkai!"

"Well, they're certainly some awesome help, because this old lady went nuts!" commented Yukari as she tried to levitate as many boulders of decent size around and shoot them as a barrage of makeshift projectiles, only to have most of the mass of the right arm suddenly shoot towards her when they failed to reach Oyakata's form in the core of the creature. "Waah, he-!"

"I got you covered, little one!" shouted Nobu as he appeared before the young witch, his massive and armored gorilla-like arms crossed before him as a makeshift shield as he stopped the crushing blow with a grunt, his feet digging into the earth but stopping a few inches before touching the wide-eyed Yukari. "Damn…Kirito didn't mention anything about fighting a kaiju!"

"I don't think the giant plant monster was here before, Tecchi, otherwise we would have noticed it when we were coming from the city!" as she said those words, Si-eun used her long tendril-like hair to fight a very matched-looking battle against another barrage of vines, her own bizarre extra 'limbs' more than strong enough to win the exchange. "So less talking and more keeping the pressure!"

"Just out of curiosity, one of us wouldn't happen to have something to conveniently bring that thing down, right?" asked Mizore as she raised a wall of ice before her and Moka, preventing another barrage of vines from reaching them. "Because it just seems to be…"

"Hey, that's cheating, it has some sort of infinite regen effect!" complained Akane as she and the twins crashed near the group, an annoyed look on her face. "And her plant-tentacles were trying to get us for very shady purposes!"

"Yeah, they don't feel nice like Kirito's, they felt gross and annoying." complained Yuuki with a pout as she crossed her arms, as if personally offended.

"…and that's another thing for the 'Things I didn't need to hear my little sister saying ever in my life'-list." despaired Aiko while the present academy students looked weirdly/warily towards the aforementioned little sister after her 'curious' complaint. "Kiri…Kazuto, that is, is there any reason you haven't just blasted that thing to pieces or set it on fire?"

"Well, because I don't want to kill the old lady and I wanted to find a way of beating her without hurting her." revealed Kazuto with some embarrassment, earning several shocked looks from the ones around him, but from Ruby more than anyone else. "She may be trying to kill us, sure, but she's also Ruby-san's only family and something tells me she isn't exactly in her right mind…can I assume she didn't always have those vine-like cancerous-looking growths under her face that suddenly multiplied when she went full-kaiju?"

"A-ah, no…now that you mention it, Oyakata-sama only started looking like that more and more in the past couple of years…" mumbled the red-eyed witch while looking away from him, her eyes suddenly wide in realization. "She a-also started making more and more familiars at the time that started and her area of control over them seemed to increase, not to mention she started talking to me less and less too…"

"Okay, then I totally can help her out!" cheerfully spoke the black-haired boy as he took a step forward, frowning towards the massive creature as the three youngest males of the Sleeping Knights tried and failed to reach Oyakata, being sent flying and barely stopping themselves from crashing on the forest through their alien-enhancements. "Kuh…through Jun, Clovis and Talken just proved just rushing head-on won't work unless I intend to hurt her, so I will need a distraction big enough to…"

 _"I can provide that."_ came the familiar deep voice of Inner Moka from within the pink-haired vampire's rosary, making all the non-Youkai present to look at it in shock. _"If I get close enough the old hag will have to concentrate on me or get hurt…but can you really do what you're promising?"_

"Of course I can, Moka-san."

There was not a single ounce of boasting in that statement, or in the reassuring smile he directed towards the Rosario.

Only the usual and direct honesty that had made her Outer-self and her friends fall for him so readily…and that a part of her could truly respect.

 _"…then exchange places with me, please, Outer."_

"Su-sure!" declared the vampiress as she ran to her best friend's side, looking nervous as he reached for the rosary. "B-be careful, Inner."

"Don't worry, Moka! She will be fine!" declared Kazuto as he removed the magical seal, the Sleeping Knights' eyes widening in shock at the ensuing over-the-top transformation. "Because we all have her back!"

"…hmph. You know, the more I see of you, the more I think you were born just to…what the hell?!" any regality that the unleashed Super Vampire may have possessed was lost the moment the Lusus Naturae grabbed her and raised her above him. "What are you doing to me?!"

"Helping you reach her! Fly, Moka-san! Super Rider Kick!" happily declared the boy before practically javelin-throwing Inner Moka, the wide-eyed girl of silver hair tearing through the air at astounding if precise speeds, her face twisting into a feral grin as she saw Oyakata's eyes widening just as she spun around, ignoring her skirt flipping thanks to the wind just to aim straight for the transformed witch's body.

"Know your place, you relic!"

"Foolish vampire! I won't be bested so easily!" roared the old woman as she closed countless vines before her and swatted her monster's left arm towards the Super Vampire, the strength of the kick being enough to tear the entire 'hand' apart and sent it tumbling back. "Gah…!"

"Well then…the landing is going to be a bit umplea…uh?" blinked Inner Moka as she found herself no longer falling but instead rising into the air as a familiar pair of arms closed around her.

"Honestly…was he just assuming I would catch you no matter what without a single doubt?" complained Kurumu with a resigned smile…even as they saw a winged black blur soaring forward just as Oyakata lowered her vines, the witch realizing her mistake too late. "That Destined One of mine is just…too trusting."

"…let's be honest, you wouldn't have let me fall anyway." smirked the super vampire as she saw Kazuto basically tear the screaming old woman from the kaiju's core and then through its back, immediately covering her with his ever-shifting black flesh as he did so. "If not for him then because you wouldn't want to let your 'rival' hurt herself in such a way."

"…were you talking about the normal Moka just now…or were you implying something else?" questioned the succubus with narrowed eyes, even as the silver-haired girl coughed and looked away, refusing the answer.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group had all but rushed to the place where the Lusus Naturae had fallen, a very worried Ruby at the front…only to gasp in teary-eyed shock as she saw a hard-breathing Kazuto walking towards them, carrying an unconscious but completely normal-looking Oyakata on his arms.

The old witch was wearing only the wet and torn rags of her tunic, though, and the black-haired boy was completely naked, even if he didn't seem to mind. Aiko clearly did, though, if the way in which she covered a protesting Yuuki's eyes as she looked away was anything to go by.

"Man…that was a bit crazy…here, Ruby-san, I purged all the plant-matter from within her body. I don't know much of magic besides what Yukari-chan has talked with me sometimes, but I assume she was using it to increase her control over plants in exchange for they influencing her in a negative way…" explained the boy as he handed the old woman to her apprentice, who hugged her while crying and thanked him endlessly. "I'm pretty sure people back at Youkai Academy can give her a more thorough and less invasive check-up, though…"

"Kazuto-san…I know I say it all the time, but…you're awesome!" cheered Yukari as she jumped at him and hung from his neck with happiness. "As expected of one of the two people I love the most!"

"Heh, if anyone had told me I would see our alien-boss tearing through a plant kaiju to save an old witch this morning, I would have laughed a lot." chuckled Akane while shaking her head…only to blink as she noticed many confused looks sent her way, coupled by a panicking one from Kazuto. "Uhm…what's wrong?"

"…did you just say 'alien'?" came Inner Moka's perplexed voice as she and Kurumu landed beside the group, the succubus looking equally confused as they gazed at the guilty-looking Lusus Naturae. "Why…?"

"…I…I should have said something sooner, but…sorry girls, I should have been more honest with you all before…" sighed the black-haired boy while looking away with shame. "I…I'm not a monster. I'm actually an alien."

"…what?"

At that same moment…a certain School Bus Driver was staring with disbelief to where the titanic plant-monster had collapsed, shaking his head slowly as his inhumanly sharp earing let him catch what had just been said.

"Aliens? As in…a creature from another world? Is he serious?"

"Oh, believe me, whatever the hell you are, he totally is." came another voice as the blinking Youkai turned around to see a deadpanning Waryum exiting the van in which the group of hybrids had arrived there. "In fact, given that you belong to that monster school he's going to, I think it's high time I had a talk with one of you…it will probably save you a lot of headaches when dealing with X-K0940…even if he's a good kid. Most of the time."

"…are you insinuating he may be a danger to the school or its students?"

"You kidding? Given how infatuated with him those girls clearly are, the only true danger would be if his 'human friends' ever met them…" grumbled the Tryum while waving a hand. "I just want you to have some things clear in case something happens, so you know who to call. Believe me, there is absolutely no problem he may direct your school's way you should be aware of."

At that same moment, a certain Tryum ship finally entered the Solar System, the creature sleeping on its main lab eagerly waiting to find her brother…

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** Dammit Waryum, you jinxed it XD

This time, most of the Omake is from Ruby's PoV like we had it earlier with Yukari, seemed fitting to do that. Once again, though, Kazuto's 'common sense' (Or his warped version of it) combined with his eldritch veracity and the SK's flawless teamwork let him not only solve things way faster but also preventing Ruby's master from biting the dust :3 His secret is out, though, so how will the R+V girls react to it all?

You will find out, next time!


	18. Chapter 16: Memento Mori

And here we are again, everyone, with yet another chapter of the weirdest SAO story around…most likely. Also, I had fun in London, but somehow being back to writing my madness makes me much more relaxed.

That said…things are finally coming to a close here. Can't believe this is one of the last chapters of this crazy little piece of mine…but well, strap yourselves, my dear readers, because things are about to get… _freaky_. Pun intended. Also, this Update is made on this story second's anniversary, so yay!

And as always, help filling this story's TvTropes page is greatly appreciated!

 **PS:** Oh, an important announcement, go check out the new story from my good friend 'KnightEstoc' titled ' **PsychiK'** if you want some more whacky Kirito action and a lot of laughs! It just started today and it's a lot of fun :D! You can find it on my Favorites or in the SAO Section of the page under 'Supernatural/Humor'!

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Memento Mori**

 **January 11th, 2024. Tokyo, SK's Apartment Complex. Waryum's Living Room, 02:30…**

Waryum the Tryum had done many things in his life that he deeply regretted. Being so careless in his handling of X-K0940 because of how much it creeped him out was one of the most recent. His involvement in the catastrophe of Andromeda, which ended up with him relegated to Earth, was probably the biggest one.

Or, at least, it had been, up until this very moment. For as he saw the narrowed and distrustful eyes most of the Sleeping Knights were aiming his way as they surrounded him, their inhuman mutations out and ready, he felt a strange pain that he had never experienced before…though it was nothing compared to the betrayed looks on the two youngest members of the group, the twins still staring at him as if expecting to hear it had all been just a misunderstanding, Akane at their side giving him a cold stare that was almost as painful, and all the more hurting because of how _wrong_ it felt to know he had been the one to put that look in the sweet girl's face.

Despite all of that, though…there was only one answer he could really give to her demand.

"No."

All the hybrids in the room froze for an instant, completely caught off-guard by the denial, the older ones lowering their threatening stances out of shock, sadly confirmed what the alien scientist already suspected.

They had been pretending. None of them was _really_ willing to hurt him.

"Wha…?! What do you mean with 'no'?!" demanded Akane while taking a threatening step forward, but the Tryum's six eyes never wavered even when her scimitar-like arm burst out and was pointed his way. "You just said you had something that could kill Kirito and were gonna use it, how…?!"

"Killing him is a bit of a messy way to put it. This 'code' will allow me to shut him down all the way down to his DNA…technically, I'm more like completely extinguishing his existence. No trace behind, biological…or otherwise." calmly explained the alien while looking away from them. "And you don't get it, Akane…Sleeping Knights. I have to do this."

"Why?!" demanded Yuuki with teary eyes as she took a step forward, ignoring Aiko's attempts to hold her back as she moved forward and looked at Waryum with trepidation. "Why would you want to kill Kirito?! He has done nothing but help you…help us! What reason is there to…?!"

"Because it's either him or everyone in this planet!" shouted back Waryum with desperate fury in his voice, glaring back at the young girl and freezing everyone with his words. "A group from my planet came here…they're the ones who brought X-K0941, Kazuto's sister, to Earth. They were watching the entire 'battle'…they saw what he could really do. So they decided they were going to blow up the planet to get rid of him because of the potential threat he is for the galaxy."

"Tha-that's…they can't do that! What about all the people living here?!" screamed Si-eun with clear horror, the rest either too shocked or still trying to accept what they had been told to react. "They can't just destroy the planet because…!"

"Yeah, that's the thing, Si-eun…they totally can, and they won't care for all the people that die when they do so. For them, humans are just an 'underdeveloped species'. Full of chaos and with nothing relevant to add into the Universe as a whole…a 'small' sacrifice compared to preventing a catastrophe that could spam beyond the galaxy." continued the alien scientist while walking in a small circle, looking down and seeming more as if he was talking with himself rather than with them. "Me, though? I have been here long enough…watching the world, then living here, alone, then with you…I know the true value this world has."

"The-then let us help you, Waryum! We can stop them!" quickly spoke Aiko while walking to her sister's side. "Between all of us and Kazuto, we should have the power to take them down!"

"Aiko-nee is right! All will be solved if we stop them!" fervently added Yuuki with new hope in her eyes, even as Akane walked past them and extended a hand towards the silent Tryum with an understanding smile.

"I know it must have been hard, Waryum-san, but it's all fine now. Together, we can…"

"You think I didn't think of that? I may be a 3rd Rate Researcher, but I'm not stupid…and I probably have more common sense than most of my species thanks to the time I have spent living here." mirthlessly chuckled Waryum while looking back at them, the leader of the hybrid group recoiling at the hopeless look in his eyes. "These guys aren't just nobodies like me…they're High Researchers, and in an officially sanctioned mission. If they go missing long enough, they will send someone looking for him…and it won't be just a small Scientific Ship, no, Tryum-Delta will send out the big guns if they assume something actually happened in an underdeveloped planet that managed to stop an entire crew with our tech at their disposal. Things would arguably end up worse for the Earth if that was the case."

"So…are you saying our planet is doomed no matter what we do?" growling, Asami seemed between furious and terrified as she stared directly at the oddly calm alien, as if unable to fully understand everything that was happening beyond of how terrible it was for everyone involved. "We're all going to die because a bunch of stupid aliens thinks Kazuto is too dangerous?!"

"No…because I'm going to prevent that from happening." firmly declared the Tryum with an unnatural resolve in his eyes, his fist tightening around the small code. "I managed to convince them of an alternative, after all…there is no reason for them to destroy Earth if X-K0940 is dead, after all."

Silence hung in the room for a moment while everyone stared at him in utter shock, the full realization, the understanding of the situation they were all in, finally sinking into the group. Even the 3 youngest of them easily understood what Waryum was implying, despite the cold and dispassionate way in which he had said it.

"N-no…you didn't…you…!" stuttered Akane while shaking her head, as if refusing to believe the truth.

"That kid…proved me wrong about so many things. He's probably one of the most understanding beings I have ever met…and you all are the proof of his compassion and love for life." slowly moving to the side, closer to the wall that connected with the adjacent apartment, the alien scientist seemed to regard a picture there with something akin to nostalgia. "In another life, maybe…we could have called each other family for real, you know?"

In the picture held in the simple frame, the Sleeping Knights, Waryum and Kazuto could be seen smiling with that same living room on the background…or, at least, the 'humans' were smiling while he was annoyingly trying to take the black-haired boy and Yuuki off his back, Aiko trying to help get her twin under control.

"…then don't do this, Waryum." mumbled Nobu as his massive arms shook slightly, the black muscles clenching visibly. "Please."

"…my old boss from the ramen shop, Oguro-san. The annoying woman in the maid outfit from the corner where we worked, Makino-san. That random kid who sold clearly fake trading cards in the shady shop beside the station. Shinozaki-san, with whom I worked with for a while…they're all good people. They all have families and friends. Even in this world where there are people starving and environmental catastrophes that make animals go extinct, those simple people convinced me it's a planet worth living in…worth saving." as he spoke those words, the Tryum turned to face the Sleeping Knights, none of the adult hybrids even looking at him right in the eye anymore, even the twins now seemingly more conflicted than they had ever been in their entire lives. "One life, no matter how innocent it may be, one that has the potential of one day causing untold damage if something went wrong, in exchange for every single human, every single animal, living under this sky…wouldn't you also do it, if you had to? Am I truly being the bad guy here, Sleeping Knights? Even when I also want to save YOU all, to the point I didn't mention to those idiots there were over half a dozen unchecked hybrids living with me before this all went to hell?"

"…there has to be another way." whispered a shaking Akane with tears in her eyes, looking back up at Waryum with defiance. "There has to!"

"Except there isn't, Akane. Life isn't like fairy tales…sometimes, no matter what you're able to do, you can't save everyone." simply declared the alien scientist, before releasing a long sigh, for a moment the true extent of his age washing over the gathered hybrids as his eyes looked terribly old and tired when he spoke the next words. "And that's why I'm going to walk out of this place with this code. To do what nobody else can, the sin only I have to bear for everyone on this planet…what must be done."

"…we can't let you do that, Waryum-san." softly muttered Yuuki as her gaze finally met his, tears falling freely down her eyes even as black bones grew from her arms and shoulder, tearing through her clothing. "I'm sorry, but…we can't."

"…like Yuu said." nodded Aiko with a sad smile as a blade of bone grew from her right arm.

"…you heard my best friends, Waryum." finished Akane as her legs changed and her scimitar-arm was pointed forward once again. "Even if it puts the world at risk…we're not going to let you kill Kirito."

As if they had just been waiting for those words, the rest of the Sleeping Knights nodded fiercely, all trace of doubt gone from even the adult's faces at the sheer dedication of the young girls, standing strong behind them as they all looked defiantly at their alien friend.

"…heh. I know…I already knew that since the moment I started trying to explain, actually. That's…that's what I love of you, guys. What makes me think humanity is worth saving, really." sadly laughed Waryum as he closed his eyes. "And that's why…I'm the one who is truly sorry."

The moment those words left the alien scientist's mouth, the until the silent Omni-Device came alive, the wasp-like bio-machine screeching madly and spinning impossibly as orange-colored beams shot from its eyes in every direction.

There was no chance for the Sleeping Knights to react in time, even with their inhuman enhancements. In less than a second, everyone but the twins was flung back through the air, eyes wide and shocked looks on their faces as the beams' glow enveloped their bodies.

With a scream, Aiko managed to spin through the air long enough to avoid two more beans, before countless more slammed into her and sent her crashing into the ceiling, her body also shining unnaturally.

Yuuki, though…tears flew from her eyes and a shout never stopped exploding from the depths of her chest as blades of bone grew from her body at impossible angles and with impossible speed, one long she held like an actual sword slashing down as all of them _cut through_ the laser beams and her gaze zeroed on the alien device, ready to…!

Over a dozen beams hit her all over her body, her eyes wide and shocked as she flew past the sad-looking Waryum.

Even inhuman Reaction Time cultivated thanks to the Medicuboid and enhanced with alien DNA meant nothing against laser fire. After all, a laser could be faster than light itself. The only reason Konno Yuuki had been able to cut so many was that she had seen the direction they were all going to come from and she had the ability to react…to a certain limit.

With damming finality, her body crashed against the wall where their picture had been hung, the frame falling off and smashing on the ground as she gasped for breath, suddenly feeling…terribly tired…

"Gah…Wha…bwuh…?!"

"Our race may lack common sense, be terribly selfish and stupidly uncaring by any human, and probably most other intelligent species, standards…but, by some sick joke of Fate, we Tryums are still the most advanced species in this Universe. Even for a nobody like me, shutting you all down is laughably easy with just this small piece of tech." walking forward as he talked, the Tryum completely ignored the way in which some of the fallen hybrids tried to reach out towards him, only for their mutations to be undone as they slowly fell unconscious. "I hope you can forgive me one day, even if know that's more than unlikely…but at least like this, nobody will hurt you. By the time you wake up again, this will all be over."

"War…yum…san…!" voiced Yuuki as she felt her thoughts slipping away, her body shutting down against her will. "Don't…do…it…plea…se…!"

"…goodnight, Yuuki-chan. I hope you have a dreamless sleep."

Those were the last words the alien scientist spoke before walking out of the apartment and heading upstairs, ignoring the sounds of people coming up thanks to the commotion he had caused. With that last view, the younger twin lost consciousness, nothing but sadness and despair filling her mind.

When he arrived at the rooftop, one quick teleport later and he was back in the spaceship's bridge, many confused stares being sent his way as he made his way towards the inner sections.

"Wait, Waryum, what just happened?! We suddenly lost contact and you didn't answer!" demanded Grotek as he tried to follow the lower-ranked researcher. "Also, there is a clear report you left a Perception Barrier down there, what the hell…?!"

"Unforeseen complications, nothing I couldn't take care of. I got the code, which is all that mattered, and the Barrier is there so that the humans that were guarding the building don't realize something got…messed up, until it no longer will matter." coldly cut him off Waryum without stopping, the edge on his voice making the other stop in his tracks, feeling almost afraid. "I will be…resting for a bit on the inner chambers, I think we all need a clear head after the clusterfuck this night has been. Come morning…let's end this once and for all."

"…ye-yeah, I will get the crew working on finishing getting the Sequencer ready. Then we will be able to load it on any Device once we have the Code programmed…"

"Good. Now…I'm tired. Leave me alone for a while, please…"

There was no answer to his soft demand, but the Earth-dwelling Tryum hadn't really expected any, so he continued heading deeper into the ship until he found a corner where he could sit down and stare blankly at his hands, the Omni-Device floating at his side 'landing' on his shoulder without a sound.

He didn't know how long it was, probably just a few minutes, before he heard the sound of footsteps coming closer, causing him to look up with a small glare in time to see Pibap hesitantly walking towards him.

"Researcher Waryum…?"

"I explicitly said I wanted to be alone for a while…"

"I-I know, sir, but I was asked to inform you that we need the code already to start the programming on the Sequencer." commented the young technician while looking away. "…that said, are you alright, sir? Do you need some medical assistance or…?"

"I'm fine, Pibap…and don't call me 'sir', please, I'm sure if we look closely you probably outrank me or something close to it." sighed Waryum as he slowly stood up. "…tell me, do you have family back home?"

"In Tryum-Delta? Uhm…I have a brother that I still talk with from time to time, he's a guard of an Alpha Research Facility. Haven't seen our mother in several Megacycles, though, she was a Major Technician on the outer edges of System 78U…" mumbled the younger Tryum with apparent confusion. "Why?"

"Just…remembering, how different 'family' is for us Tryums. We're much more attached to our positions or objectives than spending time with those with a direct biological relationship with us…if we judged just for interaction alone, our co-workers could technically be more of a family to us in most cases." chuckling mirthlessly, the alien scientist suddenly seemed extremely old, like he actually would be from a human perspective. "Humans, though…their definition of family is much closer and intimate, more often than not. And they value it much more…in many ways."

"…do you have any family left yourself, Waryum?"

"Not back in Tryum-Delta or anywhere I know of, no…but…I like to think I had a family here…" mumbled the Earth-dwelling Tryum as he closed his eyes, small tears gathering on their edges. "And I'm going to save them all…even if it means having them hate me forever."

"That…sounds quite tragic, sir."

"It is…makes me think of an old saying, in a dead human tongue…one to refer to how fleeting their lives are…ever heard of Latin, Pibap?"

"Can't say I have…never been interested in Earth before coming here, s-so…"

"It's normal, don't worry. It's actually one of their most popular dead tongues, if mostly for how historically important the civilizations that spoke it were. Many old sayings have been conserved from it to the current age, though…"

At the same time, back at the apartment building, one of the two armed guards that had come up to investigate the commotion reported for the third time how there was nothing wrong or out of place at all, everything he could see being the normal and perfectly ordered empty room…

 **(H̖̭ͪͧ͠ǘ̸̵̮͙͕͙̣͕̲̅ͦͤ͆̐̿͝n̊ͫ̋͏͈̗̫ḡ̍͗͐ͥͤ͢͠** **҉** **͍e͈͉̣̟̤̱͖̟͗̒̇́̌̃͂r̵͉̘͌̑** **)**

Until he felt something was terribly wrong, making him spin around and aim at the empty room, something starting to pierce through the perception-veil that had been left in the room.

"…this one in particular, if you translate it literally, it means 'the memory of the dead'. Yeah, human languages are overly complicated and different, especially when it comes to translating from one to another…"

 **(** **P̢͚̃ͯ̂u̗͙̝͈͎͊̇͛͊r͈̞p̙̬͔̭̖̩͋̇ͥ͆ͫ̏̾o̵͙̰̯s̶̮̭̱̳̯ͭ̎͒ē̾̈͑̔** **)**

Almost jumping in place, the guard scanned the room once again, his finger caressing his weapon's trigger as he bit his lips at the…sounds.

The sounds of flesh splitting and bones breaking that came from the empty room, a macabre spectacle taking place before him but outside his view at the same time.

"…the actual translation though, is…'Remember that you will die'. In the original language…"

 **(̥̩ͭ̏͗̚W̡͙̪̩̟̳͈͇Ä̶̹̘̘̱͈́ͣ̒ͮͦK̟̩͙̪̞̒̍͡E̯͈̗͉͕͓ͬͬͣͭ̆̂ ͓͓̄̉Ū̯̰̤̬͔̱ͦͬ͞P͌͒̆͌̔̒)͛̂ͫ̈́̓** **҉** **̫̬̤͔͔̣**

Finally having enough, the man turned around, reaching for his earpiece to call for help…

Something long and clawed grabbed his leg. The man screamed, jumping out of the room and turning to shoot.

"… _Memento Mori_."

A thousand of long, thin and hair-like tendrils connected to a _thing_ that looked like an oversized eyeball with weird insect-like shells under it tore the weapon from his hand, making him scream even louder. Behind the tall abomination, something that looked like a cross between a massive gorilla, a dinosaur and a fungus growled his way.

Turning to run, the guard managed to reach the stairs, hearing his companion already running and calling his name, hoping to get there in time to be safe…

An abomination that seemed to be made of ever-shifting black bones slithered through the wall and past him, the creature turning to look at him with 2 unfocused eyes as it released a nightmarish sound, something akin to a limb of bone-covered flesh reaching out towards him. Horror filling him, the man kicked out towards it, making the beast recoil…just an identical one, but much faster, crawled through the ceiling in terrifyingly quick motions and hissed violently at him, as if threatening it for hurting the other. Desperate, the man jumped down the hole in the middle of the stairs, preferring to crash down and risk his life than being devoured by the creatures.

Something thick and sticky stopped his fall midway, though. Looking up at the dark _webbing_ that now held him, the guard was treated to the sight of some unholy cross between a horse-sized spider and a centipede hanging upside down as it reached out towards him, pulling through the thread it had spewed from its jaws to drag him back up.

Somehow, the reptilian and armless creature with long clawed legs that was casually hanging from its side, staring straight at the guard from an eye that sprouted out like a snail's, managed to be enough to snap him out of his horrified delirium and start screaming again as he tried to cut free from the webbing.

Gunfire echoed through the building, most of it hitting and breaking through the sticky substance, letting the mall fall and crash down, injured but alive, even as the creatures recoiled. His partner had arrived.

Growling and hissing, a snake-like monster rushed before its softer-looking companions, especially one that looked like a giant praying mantis with 4 scorpion-like tails, its oddly-shaped head, as if it was some sort of tower of flesh and eyes, shifting down as it covered its body with its abnormally long tail, turning into a living shield of flesh and scales, the bullets pinging off its side. With a challenging roar, though, one of the bone-covered creatures seemed ready to go further beyond, jumping on the bullets' path and lashing out in every direction with sharp blade-like bones, all of them pushed by countless growths of mismatched flesh, cutting through the bullets with almost manic abandon, making the terrified guard freak out…

And then a louder roar from back upstairs called out to the group of abominations, making them look up and quickly retreat, shocking both humans, even as the one still standing finally called out for reinforcements.

Back on the, now fully visibly destroyed, apartment, the most humanoid of the creatures finished its roar, standing with chitinous armor and half-slouched, its head a weird mass of insect-like pincers and 2 chameleon-like eyes moving in different directions, its left arm longer than any human one could be and ending up in a claw.

However, it were its legs, powerful and segmented in a way that indicated it could jump brutal distances, and its right arm, open and unfolded like some demented giant _scimitar of bone_ , what were its most notorious traits. That and…that its anatomy was vaguely _female_.

As soon as the rest of its brethren were there, the seemingly leader-creature growled and pointed to the wall, making a quick motion with her clawed arm, gesturing urgency. In answer, the one with the massive arms bellowed and smashed it open, revealing the open air.

Half-running/half-rolling, the abomination of the scimitar-arm stopped at the edge and looked out into Tokyo, as if looking for something with senses she didn't have before. Then, after a few seconds, it roared again and jumped out, shooting into the air like a living nightmarish missile and quickly vanishing into the night.

Not a second later, the rest of the creatures followed, the bone-covered ones moving as one as they catapulted themselves using bones and flesh to act like springs for their bodies, even as the one with the snake-like tail carried the praying mantis one as they shot into the darkness. An instant later, the lizard-like one and the spider-abomination followed cue, first crawling over the outer walls and then jumping forward into the nearest roof, following after their comrades. Being the last left on the destroyed apartment, the eyeball-thing with countless hair-like tendrils stopped for a moment…and reached out to grab the fallen picture on the ground, dragging it along before catapulting itself after its comrades… _family_.

At that moment, sleeping restlessly on the back of a man's car, Mirai shook, Yui's consciousness inside her head shuddering at feeling something bizarre.

And resting on his bed with his adoptive sister hugging him, Kirigaya Kazuto shook, visions of a sea of flesh and blood churning in agitation filling his dreams…

* * *

 _"That is not Dead which can Eternal Lie. And with Strange Aeons, even Death may Die."_ –H. P. Lovecraft (Ṛ͉͙͓͎̜̽̐i̔ͯ̂̈̎͗s̘̗͚͚͈̍ͫͦ͡e̯̗̱̺,͍̪̭̼̳̜̭̏͌̆̓͐ ̝̩̪̖̹̯̟͗ͤ͆̒̌ͩͮm͕̯̺̰̃̾̅́y̧͍̳ ̙̖͔̜̦̦͑̒Ņ̯̇̒̽͂̆ȋ̷̜̲̯͚̘͖͂ͮ̽g͓͍͖̈͒͆̕h̋ͥ͘t͌̓͏̙̻ͅm̥͈̻̲͓̙̓̾a͍͖͓͍̜͍̅r͔͆̐̐̓̎͗è͈̜ ̭̼̦͖̳̖͕̔̓ͫK̈́̈́́ͭͩ̈́n͈̻̥̅͆͌͑̔i̬̩̫̖͕̍̚͢g̺̗ͤ͌̏̂͞h̴̭̣͖̪̟̣̄̉ͨͪ͑ͅt͕̜̖̥̔ͭ̓̈̇͒̃s̳̭͌̾…̹̪͈̹̬̙).

* * *

When the alien boy woke up the next morning, he already felt something was terribly wrong, even when he saw Suguha was resting peacefully at his side, her warmth as comforting as ever, but unable to snuff the sinister unrest in his heart.

Then, there was their mother entering the room, looking oddly serious and carrying a traveling bag despite being dressed for work, alarming him even as she made the young kendoka wake up. The news she gave them weren't exactly comforting.

Having to run away and hide, without even the chance of warning their friends, was bad enough, and caused him no amount of grief knowing it was because of him, even when Midori assured him it was not his fault but of those that wanted to hurt them.

However, what truly shook Kazuto and reinforced his feeling that things were 'wrong' was when she worriedly revealed that the Sleeping Knights had apparently left at some point last night and they still hadn't returned. Why and where to, she had no idea, and they had either left their phones or didn't pick up the calls, no matter how much the worried boy called them, getting only a 'Signal Disconnected' in answer.

Despite all of this, and despite understanding her son's clear worry, Midori was forced to point out that Akane and the others were more than capable of looking out for themselves, and that they knew about her plans of going away, so worst-case-scenario they would have to meet up again later. There was no delaying their 'escape' if they wanted to make it seem natural, given there was no doubt they would be under watch and/or having someone sent after them soon, given what the alien boy had done to the agents watching him yesterday.

"I'm sure they're fine, Onii-chan…and they know where the others live if they come back here when we're gone!"

"You're right, but…I wish we could at least tell the rest we're going…at least to Yuuna or Asuna…"

"Ye-yeah, but…"

"Yes, I know, it would put them in danger. I understand that, but…it's still hard, Sugu."

"…it will be fine, Onii-chan. We will get through this and things will be back to normal soon. You will see."

Such was the talk going on between the siblings as they, seemingly, walked towards school, like every morning. Soon, the two siblings would get to the bus station, where they would head in different directions to their respective schools, like they had been doing since he started going to High School (Even if Suguha was planning on going to Kazuto's as soon as she entered High School next year). Kirigaya Midori herself had left earlier that morning in her car to head towards her job like every day too, nothing out of the ordinary there.

This time, though, the girl went to a nearby store seemingly to buy some water, while the boy waited for the bus quietly humming…and vanished from view as soon as a few cars passed. And, if anyone bothered to look, they would see how the former wasn't anywhere in the small shop she supposedly had gone into, though a small window that should have been out of her reach without attracting unwanted attention had been left open.

At that moment, Kazuto jumped through the rooftops while Suguha hung tightly from his back, the boy tightly holding her with one arm while the other kept a grip on their school bags, which actually had only clothes that day.

"…did we lose them?" asked the young kendoka with apprehension as she looked over her shoulder, unconsciously tightening her grip on her adopted brother.

"I think so, I'm not feeling anyone trying to follow us since we got out of there." confirmed the alien experiment turned human with a small nod. "Hang tight, we need to make our way to the outskirts all the way to the west. Mom said she would be waiting for us in the car at Hidaka, near the Komagawa Station…"

"That seems like a long way…you sure you don't want us going down through the streets?"

"No, it's fine. I can keep us out of sight well enough and keep an eye out for anyone that may be watching us doing this, plus it's faster!" explained Kazuto with a smile as he shifted slightly so she could hold better. "Plus, don't worry; you're not heavy at all, Sugu!"

"Wha…?! Onii-chan, you idiot! I didn't say I was heavy at all!" retorted a blushing Suguha while glaring at him.

There was no real anger behind the gesture, though, and both of them knew very well what had brought it about: He was trying to make the whole situation seem less bad than it really was, so that she wouldn't worry. Still, she wished he could see there was _no need_ for that.

The young kendoka had accepted everything about him and whatever he would bring to their lives almost since she had memory. For her, there was not a future where she wasn't beside the boy, alien abomination or not, and nothing in the world would ever change that.

Almost as if suddenly desperate to transmit that feeling, Suguha tightened her grip and planted a soft kiss on the back of his head. Somehow, she almost felt him tensing for an instant before relaxing, the relief and happiness flooding off him bringing a smile to her face.

Kazuto knew how much he mattered for her and how little she cared for any problems that came their way if it meant staying together. That was all that mattered.

With such thoughts in mind, the young kendoka let herself drift off, almost falling sleep a couple times in the feeling of safety that being carried by her most important person in the world brought her before they finally arrived at their destination (Even if the alien boy actually had to stop and drop into an alley a couple of streets before there so they arrived walking).

Kirigaya Midori was there already, waiting beside her car and reading a newspaper as if it was the most normal thing in the world, casually greeting her children as if nothing was wrong and even hugging Kazuto when he reached out to do that himself. Then, as if they were just heading for their schools or just going on to visit someone, the family got in the car and drove away.

It was just half an hour later that the woman finally allowed herself to sigh in relief, looking at the rearview mirror to see both boy and girl sitting down nervously, the former looking worriedly at his phone while the latter leaned on his side.

"Still no answer?"

"No, and it's weird. Even if Merida, Yuuki or Aiko didn't answer their phones, Siune-san certainly would…" mumbled the alien abomination in human form before looking worriedly at his mother, apprehension clear in his eyes. "What if something happened to them? What if the guys from the government got to them?"

"Even if that worst-case scenario had taken place, I'm pretty sure the…'abilities' you gave them would let them get away easily, right?" receiving a nod from the still hesitant Kazuto, Midori allowed a small smile to appear on his face. "Then you shouldn't worry so much if that's the case. It's much more likely that they had to run away and lost their phones while escaping from wherever they were at, rather than them being caught."

"Mom is right, Onii-chan. Believe in them!" reassured Suguha while squeezing his hand. "We will all be back together in no time, you will see!"

"I…I guess." relented the black-haired boy while sighing and looking out of the window, watching the highway with a slightly melancholic expression. "Maybe I'm worrying over nothing but, with everything that has happened, it's easy to get scared something may happen to anyone we care for, you know? And I still don't even know where…"

Another car passed them by at that moment, driven by a worried-looking man wearing a bandana. And on the backseat…

For an instant, time itself seemed to slow down as two sets of eyes met, one leaning on the car's door while holding his sister's hand and the other 'cocooned' within a sleeping bag while looking around with worried/haunted eyes.

Both sets of eyes widened at the same time, changing inhumanly in eerie synchrony before both vehicles kept going in opposite directions, the unreal moment broken. None of the alien experiments spent more than a second stunned, though.

Their next words were oddly synchronized.

"STOP THE CAR!/MOM, STOP!"

"Huh?!/What?!"

Tsuboi Ryoutarou slammed his brakes so hard from the sudden shout that Mirai literally slammed brutally against the back of his seat, in a way that would have seriously injured her if she had been human, but as things stood probably damaged the seat more. Kirigaya Midori, on the other hand, managed a more controlled stop and turned to question her son, only to see him all but ripping off his seatbelt and dashing out of the car, ignoring Suguha's shout about what was wrong. For her part, the alien girl didn't even pay attention to her helper's worried cries or the scared shouts of the AI sharing inside her head, slamming the door open and rushing over the road without caring for her feet or the fact that she was now holding the sleeping bag in such a way she was mostly flashing her naked body to the world.

None of that mattered as she finally stopped with some hesitation, tears in her eyes as she stared at the wide-eyed and shocked form of Kazuto before her, who looked her up and down with clear worry before finally talking.

"…Mirai…"

"Bro-brother…" sobbed the 'young girl' even as Ryoutarou came running after her, looking hesitantly from her shaking form to the boy and then the upcoming woman and teenager. "I am…I'm sorry…"

"Onii-chan, what's wro…?! You?!" suddenly looking sharp, Suguha's face morphed from worry to wary anger, feeling her right leg tingling painfully as she suddenly stopped her mother from taking another step. "What are you doing here?!"

"So that's the infamous…"

"Sugu, mom, stop, please. I…let me handle this." pleaded the Lusus Naturae while looking back at the two women he had known since the beginning of his human life, his adoptive mother looking surprised at the maturity of his gaze while his adoptive sister just took a deep breath and nodded, angry but respecting his choice. "Thanks…what were you saying, Mirai?"

"Please…please, forgive me. I…I was so…I didn't know…" seemingly unable to find the proper words to express what she felt, despite having been thinking about them for the whole night, experiment X-K0941 rushed forward, letting go of the sleeping bag and burying her face on his chest as she held onto him like nothing else in the Universe could support her weight, her crying growing in intensity. "I'm so sorry…please…please don't send me away…please, I don't care anymore, just…don't reject me…please…"

Suddenly…Mirai found herself confused. She felt safe. She felt…protected, accepted. Warm.

His arms went around her, holding her body against him as he shushed her crying form.

This…this was a hug, wasn't it?

 _'Yes, it's a hug, congrats! Now could you please tell your brother about me?! I want to get back into my comfy data-only existence soon!'_ whined Yui from inside her brain, though she was summarily ignored by the body's main mind.

"Shhh…it's…it's okay, Mirai. I don't…I won't hurt you if you really don't mind to harm me or anyone else anymore." awkwardly mumbled the black-haired boy while holding his biological sister close, worried at feeling the sheer pain and sadness practically bleeding off her like waves, despite still keenly remembering how she had tried to kill everyone he cared for just a few days ago. "Are you…? What happened to you?"

"Bad things…horrible things…doesn't matter. I don't care anymore…" whispered the white-haired girl while simply basking in his warmth, suddenly not caring for anything else in the world, totally uncaring of the annoyed but resigned look Suguha was giving her. "Just…keep holding me."

"O-okay…if that makes you stop crying…"

"Snif…that's so touching…" cried Ryoutarou while wiping a few tears from his eyes.

"So…who are you?" asked Midori with a raised eyebrow while looking at the man.

"Ah, Tsuboi Ryoutarou, madam! I found your daughter last night, on a beach quite a long way from here, then I brought her after she asked for a ride…maybe you will be able to get her and tell you what happened to her? She has been silent the whole night no matter what I tried to say…"

"She's not my…ugh, I suppose it doesn't matter now." sighed the woman with a small shake of her head as she looked back at her adopted son hugging and soothing the girl that supposedly had almost killed everyone the other night, and that also was technically a much more 'brutal' kind of 'monster' than what Kazuto was supposed to be (And she wasn't even getting to how Suguha was pouting towards them in a clearly jealous way…thinking more about that could wait for later). "Kazuto, dear…we need to go. We're not safe here and someone will _definitively_ find this scene weird if they come across it."

"A-ah, yeah, sorry mom…" apologized the boy while letting go of Mirai (Even if she didn't) and looking towards the bandana-wearing man. "Uhm, thanks a lot for finding Mirai and…helping her out, Ryoutarou-san. I'm in your debt for that."

"Eh, don't sweat it kid! I like to think of myself as someone upholding the forgotten honor of the samurais, so it was a no brainer to help a damsel in distress!" boasted the man while closing his eyes and grinning, getting a disbelieving look from the young kendoka and a small snort from her mother.

"Oh, that's amazing! I'm sure you would be an amazing samurai, Ryoutarou-sa….!"

Louder than lighting, a gunshot broke the lighthearted conversation, the Lusus Naturae's head jerking backward as a high-caliber armor-piercing bullet struck him dead on.

Suguha and Midori screamed. Mirai cried out as she let go of him with the motion. Ryoutarou cursed in horror.

And Kazuto…snapped his head back with his eyes suddenly inhuman and changed, the lethal round flattened against the side of his head and leaving only some charred skin as it harmlessly fell off.

The only human male present choked on nothing, staring wide-eyed, even as the humanized alien experiment reached out with his inhuman senses, immediately finding everything he was looking for.

They were surrounded.

"GET DOWN!" screamed the Lusus Naturae as his arms extended and warped, black flesh and bone growing and hardening at uncanny speeds just as more shots cut through the air, two massive shields now easily blocking them as they stood between the group of 5 and their attackers.

"Holy shit! What the hell is going on?!" screamed a terrified Ryoutarou through the sound of gunfire, covering his ears while looking from Kazuto's giant shield-arms to the not-as-shocked-as-him females.

"Onii-chan, can you hold them?!"

"Ye-yes, nothing they can throw at us will harm me, but you all need to stay behind me! Mom, can we get to the car like this?!"

"After seeing that round they just shot you with?! They would riddle us with holes before we got out of their range!"

 _'…oh, virtual heavens. Mirai, I'm picking some radio banter…they followed US! More are coming! Vehicles heading our way from where we came from…they were just outside our view!'_

"What?! Brother, Yui says…oh no, this is…this is my fault…"

"Mirai, calm down, this isn't…wait…did you just say Yui…?"

"Am I the only one actually freaking out about the shooting and the fact he turned his arms into something that looks straight out of some horror movie?!"

"Yes, you are, Ryoutarou-san, and, in case you didn't notice it, my son is the only thing right now keeping us alive, so you should probably shut up if you want to stay that way."

"…yes, ma'am!"

"Onii-chan, why don't you just carry us all out of here? If you transform fully, you can!"

"I…I haven't tried that since that night in the beach, I…I don't know if I…"

"Oh. Yes, sorry, that was…insensitive of me, I shouldn't have…"

"Could you cease this pointless awkward talk?! We need to do something, fast!" interrupted Mirai with a clear bout of jealousy at seeing the soft atmosphere between HER sibling and the human girl that called him as kind. "Brother, the virus in my body, remove it! If these are the same humans that held me captive, then I'm going to need full access to whatever biomass I have left to confront _him_!"

"Him?" confused, Kazuto turned to look at his biological sister with a raised eyebrow. "Who are you talking abo…?"

Something crashed just behind the Lusus Naturae's arm-shields with brutal force, just as the bullets stopped raining over them. Black tendrils shot over the makeshift barrier the next instant, and the alien boy was brutally stomped into the ground by a tall figure with ashen hair and a bulkier and slightly darker suit than he had worn before, one of his eyes identical to the true ones he and his biological sister had.

"Hey monster, did you miss me?" nonchalantly called Eiji as the tendrils on his back shot out and brutally threw Mirai away, the white-haired girl crashing head-first at the other side of the road and screaming in agony as her regeneration forcefully kicked in. "That's for blowing me up last night."

"Get off him!" screamed Suguha as she tried to hit the unhinged hybrid, only for him to easily stop her with one hand. "Guaaah…n-no…"

"Huh, not even surprised? Then again, if you hang out with this monster here, that's no surprise…and where do you think you're going?" casually asked the ashen-haired boy as his tendrils shot out and held both Midori and Ryoutarou, painfully squeezing the two humans as they screamed and twisted, unable to break free. "Sorry, but my 'boss' wants all of you nicely wrapped up to be held in…"

Eiji was unable to say anything else, because the next moment his world flipped upside down with painful speed, his tendrils being cut off as if they were made of paper and his back kicked away, all before he had even finished falling down.

Growling in annoyance as he got back to his feet, the hybrid looked to see a feral-looking Kazuto glaring murder at him, his family and the man who helped his biological sister held within the tentacles that now grew from his back. However, the moment his eyes took in the full form of his 'enemy', they widened with pure shock.

"Wha…? Aren't you…Eiji-san? Yuuna's childhood friend?"

"…yup, that's me." calmly nodded the ashen-haired boy with an emotionless face at the mention of the girl's name. "And now you're going to surrender or things are going to end up very bad for everyone involved."

"I don't think so!" shouted the Lusus Naturae as several tendrils shot out and held Eiji in place before he let everyone else down and looked at them. "Mom, Sugu, run towards the trees! 'They' are close, so you can use them to escape! I will keep these guys off you and catch up! Ryoutarou-san, help them, please!"

"Fi-fine by me! You get them, kid!" shouted the freaked-out man as he grabbed Mirai's arm and started to run, the white-haired girl's eyes widening.

"Bro-brother, no, wait! I can help you fight him!" shouted the 'young girl' while trying to get free, but the pain remaining from the earlier hit had weakened her even more.

 _'Says you, I'm all for getting away from the monsters and the guys trying to shoot us while I'm still inside your head!'_ added a panicking Yui even as they got away, Midori grimacing for a moment before grabbing Suguha and starting to rush towards the nearby forested area, cursing her powerlessness even as her son's tendrils shot out at impossible speeds and angles to intercept every bullet aimed their way.

"Okay then…now I'm going to make sure you don't…AGH!" stunned, Kazuto let go of his opponent in shock, looking in disbelief as the now unhinged jaw of Eiji closed violently and finished _chewing on a piece of his tendrils_ , gulping it down almost maniacally as he smiled at him. "Did…did you just…?"

"Thank your freaky sister…she ga **ve me the idea earlier** …" grinned the hybrid as his body shuddered and bulged slightly, straining against his suit as black-veins bloated through his face and his entire anatomy seemed to scream. " **AAAAH! Oh…that's what I call a rush! This power…no wonder you monsters are so confident acting like us humans…you probably know you can crush anyone like ants no problem, eh?** "

"Eiji-san, hear me out…you're not right. Mine and Mirai's biology, it's not compatible with human one just like that…it's messing up with your brain and…!"

The Lusus Naturae was unable to finish speaking, for the next moment a laughing Eiji was before him and slamming an oversized fist of black flesh and bone into his face, the air almost seeming to ripple from the terrifying force as all his tendrils slammed on the ground and his feet carved into the ground for a few meters, the road splitting apart and the pieces flying around like shrapnel from the sheer pressure.

" **Heh…you truly are way tougher than you look.** " chuckled the ashen-haired boy with a twisted look in his face. " **Then again, I saw it firsthand, so it shouldn't really surprise me.** "

"…you're mentally unstable. I don't want to hurt you." came Kazuto's muffled voice from under the mutated fist.

" **Well, that makes ONE OF US!** " roared the hybrid as he violently lashed out again and again, his fists straining his suit to its limit as he continuously pummeled the seemingly motionless alien abomination, tearing his clothes apart from the sheer brutality and power behind the punches. " **What's wrong?! Scared to fight back, monster?! Is it something about proving you're really human or some other bullshit like that?!** "

His next hit…was blocked by the Lusus Naturae's nonchalant hand, Eiji's eyes widening at the seemingly casual effort…and something within him boiling at the look of pity he was directing his way, his eyes once again back into their 'human' look.

"No…it's because I really don't want to hurt you, Eiji-san." muttered Kazuto while taking a step back. "… _Henshin_."

With that simple declaration, the boy's body shifted, his more imposing 'armored' form appearing and his still-human eyes looking past him at the not-so-distant now vehicles and armed agents.

Then, seemingly without care, the Lusus Naturae extended his arms to the sides, their shape shifting slightly before he closed them with crushing finality, one strange 'wave' exploding out from them, directed only forward.

Screaming, the hybrid covered his ears as the nigh-invisible wave shot past him and forced him to undo his limbs' transformation. However, the agents in the distance, unable to see it coming, outright dropped down like flies, the boy's earpiece filled with shouts about most of his 'backup' just fainting on the spot for seemingly no reason.

However, the transformed alien experiment wasn't done, for wings unfolded from his back at that moment, then grew and expanded like some demented butterfly of nightmare, all fire now centered on him and proving as ineffective as Eiji's fist had, before his newly mutated massive limbs screamed into the world, some sort of invisible energy being released with the sound…and suddenly every piece of metal within 600 meters flew forward, weapons being all but torn from their owners' hands, sometimes even hurting them in the process as they tried to pull back and were dragged along for a few meters, and bullet shells also rising, all of them sticking into the 'wings' as if they were two supernatural magnets.

Which then proceeded to close and CHEW on all the gathered metal, seemingly eating it with laughable easiness.

Utter silence filled the air, horrified fascination filling every single human in the vicinity that wasn't under Kazuto's protection as his 'wings' finally vomited two formless and corroded lumps of metal, which crashed harmlessly at the hybrid's sides.

"…just how much power do you fucking have?" mumbled Eiji while looking at the spectacle in disbelief, even as the Lusus Naturae casually reabsorbed the massive limbs within his body.

" **I never cared to know that answer, Eiji-san. Nor do I actually want to…but I'm willing to use as much as I need to protect my family.** " calmly replied the transformed alien experiment before walking up to stand just before the ashen-haired boy, towering over him like some unreachable wall. "Now, I'm going to go away and you're going to tell your friends over there to back off. Nobody needs to get hurt over this."

"…even after they and I just attacked you?"

" **Yes. Nobody has been hurt yet, so like I said, I don't care as long as my family is safe.** " continued Kazuto while looking straight into his eyes. " **Plus…Yuuna would cry if I hurt you.** "

Those words…seemed to be the trigger. Immediately, the hybrid's face lost all expression, his eyes suddenly empty as the mutant one returned to its human look, a defeated and despair-filled smile suddenly blossoming on his face.

"Ah…yes…Yuuna. That's all everything in my life is about, in the end, right? You won't even hurt me because I'm her friend?"

" **…yes. I would never do anything that made her cry."**

"…thanks." conceded Eiji while looking down…and calmly reaching for the odd 'weapon' he had been carrying on his back, purposefully facing away from his opponent, several small tendrils growing from his arm and 'fusing' with it.

" **Uh? Wait…that's…?!** "

The Lusus Naturae's eyes widened in recognition at the same time that the ashen-haired boy shot the Tryum Proto-Device point-blank into his chest, sending him flying backward with utter agony being 'programmed' straight into his DNA. Screaming, Kazuto's transformation came undone, the boy barely even having time to try and stand before being shot a second time.

Then a third. A fourth. A fifth…

"So powerful…yet defeated so easily because you wanna continue pretending you're human…how ironic. You can thank your six-legged alien friends for this thing, by the way…"

Even after the Lusus Naturae had become nothing but a pathetic twitching mess on the floor, unconscious from the pain overloading him in a way it never had before, the hybrid continued talking and firing, staring emptily at his defeated opponent with almost morbid uncaringness as the bio-weapon continued discharging raw pain into whatever passed for his brain…

 _"…that's enough, Agent Prometheus…Nochizawa-kun."_ came Kikuoka's firm voice through the earpiece he was wearing, making Eiji snap out of his trance and finally stop shooting. _"He's down. Now we need you to secure him for extraction."_

"Yes…yes, I know. Did you catch our insurance to keep him on a leash already?"

 _"Our agents are on it, but…we haven't heard from them in a while now…"_

"Yeah, somehow that doesn't sound good." snorted the ashen-haired boy as he picked Kazuto's naked form with his tendrils, which coiled painfully around him as he held the 'monster' above his head like a bizarre trophy. "Want me to go take a look?"

 _"I'm sure they're fine, it's just a woman, a teenager and a random man they need to catch…"_

At that moment, one of said agents screamed as a heavy and monstrous form with three eyes screeched over him, pinning him down even as its teeth-filled beak closed ominously before its face, making him faint from the shock.

"Good Kage-chan. Onii-chan was right in having you fly after us at a distance from the car just in case." congratulated Suguha while mounting on the back of the mutant crow, Midori already atop Huginn and looking around at the several unconscious and slightly scratched armed men (Who had NOT been expecting 3 alien crows to jump from the trees and ambush their ambush-attempt) while a nervous Ryoutarou gingerly held into Muninn's back, the younger crow seemingly amused by his fear. "…dammit, get on! We need to go!"

"No! I refuse to leave my brother behind!" snarled Mirai as she glared at the young kendoka, though her threat lost a bit of strength when Kage-chan turned its fierce stare at her, the white-haired girl realizing how the being could probably easily kill her in her current state. "Ho-how can you just abandon him like that?!"

"I would never do that! I simply trust Onii-chan enough for this! He promised he would catch up and we were just in his way, so, as much as it pains me to admit it, getting away is the best we can do!" retorted the Suguha with a clearly frustrated glare. "So get on the crow right now or I swear we're just going to leave you behind!"

"He-hey, I'm actually having second thoughts about riding a mutant bird to escape from some Black Ops guys, s-so maybe I should…?"

"Shut up, Tsuboi-kun."

"Yes ma'am!"

 _'Mirai-chan, please, can you just do it?! I don't want to die here!'_

"…dammit, dammit, stupid humans! Stupid AIs! I hate you all so much!" growled Mirai before jumping into Kage-chan's back and holding onto the young kendoka almost against her will, the mutated avian family screeching loudly before they shot into the air with shocking speed and strength, Midori cursing and Ryoutarou screaming as the wind hit them hard while their 'mounts' ascended. "Ugh…"

"Hand tight, it gets very rough while ascending, but after a certain altitude we will mostly be gliding and that's much nicer, even if extremely cold!" explained Suguha as if there was nothing wrong with the current situation, making the white-haired alien experiment wonder if the human before her hadn't been psychologically 'damaged' by growing up in her brother's presence. "Mom, when we're far enough we can try and turn on our phones for a moment to know where to g…!"

A gunshot clipping Kage-chan's wing turned the young kendoka's words into a scream, her mother shouting her name while Ryoutarou turned to look down and cursed.

Despite having her eyesight barely any enhanced than a human's, Mirai was still able to see the same as him: Several men gathering in the small clearing they had just vacated, a couple of them aiming up with what she knew to be sniper rifles thanks to Yui's knowledge.

"What the…?! How did they come back so fast?!"

"That…that can't be, Onii-chan was…supposed to be keeping them…"

 _'Mirai! We will be out of their range in a few more seconds, but they're going to shoot again…they're aiming for our crow!'_

The Artificial Intelligence's panicked scream within her mind made the white-haired 'girl' all but zero on the rifle down below, almost seeing in slow motion how the man pulled the trigger…and Kage-chan swerved to the right violently, dodging the bullet with ease while screeching angrily.

However…the altered path had gotten them in the way of the _second_ rifle. Almost feeling as if the world had frozen around her, Mirai saw the bullet leaving the barrel, its trajectory all but highlighted in her mind (Maybe because of Yui?), seeing how it was headed straight for Kirigaya Suguha's back…

Screaming, the young kendoka felt Mirai pushing her hardly aside, followed by another scream and a splash of blood that stained the left sight of her face, her eyes wide in shock and horror at seeing the white-haired alien experiment falling off the mutant crow with a bullet hole on her shoulder.

"Ah…"

"No!"

"FUCK!"

 _'WHY?'_

"Keep…going! Don't you dare to stop for me, humans!" shouted Mirai as she fell down, seeing for a moment the shocked, horrified and regretful looks in Suguha, Ryoutarou and Midori's faces (In that order) before her fall became uncontrolled and she plummeted towards her death, already feeling the bullet wound painfully closing as her regeneration consumed what little reserve biomass she had, ignoring Yui's despair-filled scream. "Ah…why did I do that? It was stupid…but…brother would have been sad if that human girl died…huh…what a stupid and…human-like way of thinking…heh…"

 _'…Mirai…you were good, there, in the end.'_ mumbled Yui as she saw the trees coming to meet them, knowing their end had come. _'I just…want you to know that.'_

"…thanks, Yui."

Closing her eyes and accepting her fate, Mirai felt the closest branches painfully breaking against her body…before something both stronger and softer extended all around her and brutally stopped her fall, knocking the breath out of her and probably bruising her ribs.

But she was alive.

Eyes shooting wide open, the white-haired alien experiment found herself held by countless of small hair-like tendrils, which were starting to cover her in quite a creepy way. Shocked, she also finally heard the screams and the gunfire below, looking in time to see a horrified agent shooting uselessly against a blur that seemed to have more bones than flesh, which quickly tackled him down, even as the rest was besieged, thrown around, or easily subdued by other horrifying creatures.

One of the men trying to call for backup found four scorpion-like stingers impaling his back, making him choke on nothing and fall down twitching. Another one was trying to reload only for the massive fists of one the abominations to slam him against a tree. One actually fell to his knees and threw his weapon away while begging for mercy, only for the one with the giant snake-like tail to knock him out without mercy.

Finally, Mirai felt the eyeball-like creature that had been holding her move, all but jumping down and painfully letting her crash on the ground, the alien experiment whimpering as she forced herself to stand, stopping on her knees when she noticed she was surrounded, all the strange creatures looking at him with odd and animalistic focus.

However, the scariest part was…that they felt _familiar_ to her.

"It's…it's you all…isn't it?"

 _'Yo-you know them? Does that mean they are…friendly?'_

In answer to Yui's mental question, the only vaguely female-looking of the abominations took a step forward…and raised her scimitar-like arm just above Mirai's head. With an angry roar, she brought it down.

By the time more reinforcements arrived at the area, they found nothing but the unconscious and injured bodies of their fellow agents…and a small pool of _sizzling_ blood on the middle of the small clearing. Also, the three reported 'alien birds' had long-since vanished from view.

"…more monsters?! Are you serious?!"

 _"Looks like it, Nochizawa-kun…and by the reports, it seems they were the same ones they sent last night to the apartment building where that Waryum fellow was hiding at before, probably to recover whatever they didn't find in our base."_

"This is crazy…just how many of them are out there…?"

 _"I don't know, but, at this point, we may be looking at a full-scale invasion. At the very least, these things clearly have the power and, possibly, numbers to threaten the whole country, and who knows what else…bring Subject Omega back to base ASAP. We need to learn how to harness his power if we want to survive this mess."_

"…you know he's not going to be even remotely as easy to control as his sister was, right, Kikuoka-san? That's why we wanted to get his 'family' too…"

 _"Yes, I know, but I wasn't counting with over half a dozen monsters from nightmare interfering. So, unless you have another idea, we need to rush him back here soon before any more of those alines show up unannounced or worse…"_

"…actually, Kikuoka-san? Yeah, I _do_ have an idea. I know exactly how we can keep him on a leash as well as if we had his family…"

* * *

 _"_ _And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy…"_ – Revelation 13:1 (H̜͈̺̯̩̩ͮͮ̇A̱̤̲̣͑́ͅT̜̟̯͐̓͂̎ͭ̓͡E̜̳̖͈ͫ̓̎ͥ̾̏͝).

* * *

Shigemura Yuuna had spent the whole day having a terrible feeling in her chest. She didn't know why, but she felt as if something was terribly wrong.

The songstress had barely been able to concentrate in class at all, more often than not scratching her neck in an almost absentminded fashion as she kept looking out of the window.

When classes ended and she headed home, the first thing she did was calling Kazuto, hoping that hearing his voice would help her calm down.

His phone showed as disconnected. Panic starting to build within her, the girl had then called Suguha, hoping she would just tell her the boy had forgotten to charge his phone again.

The young kendoka's phone also showed no answer.

By the time she got home, Yuuna's nerves were on edge and she was more than panicked. Running inside, the songstress headed straight for her father's room, opening the door and making the man look at her in shock, as his daughter never entered without knocking, knowing he could be working on something important.

"Yuuna, what's wro…?"

"Dad, could you please take me to Kazuto's home?! I know you're busy, but something is very wrong! I tried calling him and his sister a-and nobody is answering and…!"

The house's doorbell rang at that moment, making the pair look at each other for a tense moment before Shigemura Tetsuhiro sighed and nodded, glad at the relieved look on his daughter's face and realizing whatever was worrying her was genuine and not just an excuse to visit her 'friend' without having to take the bus.

"Okay, let's see who is at the door and then I will take you there, okay?"

"Thanks, dad!" shouted the girl while hugging the chuckling doctor, before rushing downstairs, not even bothering to change out of her school uniform as she all but threw the door open. "Hi, what can I…help you with…?"

"…hi, Yuuna." greeted the tall form of Nochizawa Eiji, mostly covered by an oversized coat as he looked at his wide-eyed childhood friend, who was simply staring at him with paralyzed shock. "Been a while, eh?"

"Eiji-kun…?"

"In the flesh…or a bit more than that, really." grinned the ashen-haired boy while his right eye shifted, the songstress taking a step back with panicked disbelief at the sight. "Can I come in? It's sure been a very long time since I was 'over at your house to play', right…?"

Within a churning sea of flesh and blood, Kirigaya Kazuto's unmoving body floated, the 'waters' angrily shifting and bubbling, something primal and ancient stirring with rage, countless voices united as one urging for their main body to wake up.

However, the boy did not wake up. Instead…his body spasmed, eyes opening and staring without seeing into the sky.

Al the voices fell silent. Then, they spoke, together, as if in an unnatural trance.

 **"(ONE. LAST. PUSH)"**

Above the red heavens of the eldritch sea…the stars that were not stars slowly opened…

Finally, their true form gazed down into Everything.

 ** _Eyes_**. They were eyes. _Eyes the size of stars_ , constantly 'crying' blood into the micro-cosmos of flesh below.

 **"(PROTECT. WHAT. WE. LOVE)"**

As Kazuto's body sank into the sea, deeper and deeper, the eerie sound of a 'heartbeat' grew in intensity, sounding like some nightmarish drum that had no concept of what 'sound' was supposed to be.

Floating upside down in a 'core' of blood, the 'boy' stared unflinchingly at a titanic 'heart', even as it pulsated and continued 'drumming', almost like…it was calling out to him…

The next words…didn't come from him, or from the sea that was him in his monstrous entirety.

They came from within the heart…

 **(͍͙͙͓͉̰͚̋̆ I̙͛̾͗̽̇̎ͅt͇̿̓̈̔͐̔͞'͔̼̻͆̄s͈͙̩̼̱̩̑ͦ̎ͅ ̧͖̺̪̲̯̇̊ͦ͂͋̄ͣT̷̬͛̔̄͋ͯͭi̪̻̹̙͒͛͊ͥ͐ͅm̯̱͚̦͋ͤͭe͚͉̮̗͞ ̤̱͖̤̙̪ͪ̀̊̎͞T͉̼͓͙͚̥o̞͉̫̹̲ͫͦ̈̓͌̈́̚ͅ ̟͗̍ͬ͒W̦̗̥̱̤̜̙ą̜͙̥̞͚̰̮̃̅̽ͪ̚k̖̙̃̌̂͒ͧȩ̤͙͔ ̠͇̞̝͐̉̑͊ͤU̹̘̻̮̯͐̄p.ͥ҉̞̭.̛̝̖̘̝͔̅̔̒ͅ.́̈̉͆͑҉͈͕̯̤)̴̱̮̱̥̩̪̦̀̈**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** _Next time, 'Why do you always smile, Kirigaya Kazuto…?'_

Ehem! More dark foreshadowing aside, that has been another chapter of Lusus Naturae. And we're almost at the ending here, as you can notice (Just, like, 2 more chapters, with a short Interlude in the middle). Man, can't believe it's been 2 years since this story started. It seemed like just a small creepy joke back then, but now…how do things change, eh?

No extra-words or explanation from my part this time, I think the chapter pretty much spoke for itself. Instead, I leave you with the Omake today, so you can relax a bit from the creepiness that comes…

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 13: Freaky Truths**

"…and that's when I decided that I should come to Youkai Academy. I didn't even know it was a school of monsters until my first class, after having already met Moka and, well…I thought I could fit right in. I'm…I'm sorry for lying to you all this time, everyone…"

Within the Newspaper Club's clubroom, nothing but Kazuto's awkward and guilty voice could be heard while the five girls and one boy looked at him with varying degrees of shock, rapture attention or disbelief.

It had been a few days since the unnerving 'school trip' the bizarre friends had made to the human world, and it had only been now that the black-haired boy had found time to sit down with all his school friends to explain everything he had confessed/promised to clarify back then after the defeat or Rubi's master (Speaking of Oyakata, the woman was currently recovering within Youkai Academy's infirmary, which was much more well-equipped than any school infirmary had any right to be, under the worried watch of her apprentice, who was staying at the school under the condition of working for the headmaster to return the help brought to her and the old witch she saw like a mother).

Then again, given everything they indirectly had to deal with in the aftermath of the incident, from helping Rubi to settle in and reassure her about her master's recovery, at Kazuto's insistence, and the Lusus Naturae calling Kayaba Akihiko to ask if he could help out with what was going to happen with Witch Hill.

The group wasn't sure what was weirder, if the fact that Kazuto was apparently close friends with a man with such power and resources (Only Ginei knew who the father of FullDive tech was, but the basics explained had left the girls stunned) or if he had only needed to hear the words 'witches' and 'special place' before cutting the boy off and asking what he wanted.

Now, Witch Hill was property of Kayaba Akihiko, and it hadn't even been that much of a problem for the man. While much would have been appalled at the amount of money he had used to buy the place back from RECT without incidents, for the creator of the Nerve Gear and Sword Art Online it was but a modest use of the ever-increasing fortune he was amassing and never too sure of what to do with. The simple but beautiful place was no longer in risk of being destroyed…though the girls hadn't been very amused when Rubi had all but lifted Kazuto off his feet upon being told the news and pun him around while crying her thanks.

Finally, though, the time for the Lusus Naturae to explain things to his friends had come, and so he had called them all to their clubroom before taking a deep breath and revealing everything about his life he had kept hidden from them until that point…which was where things stood now.

For a few moments, there was nothing but morbid silence within the room, until it was, unsurprisingly, broken by Ginei.

"So…you're an alien, a creature from outer space…something that, as far as it's proven today, it's nothing but a product of human sci-fi." commented the werewolf with a weirdly neutral expression. "And we're supposed to believe that?"

"Technically, I'm a failed alien biological experiment that evolved beyond my original purpose…and well…I could say the same about werewolves being 'real' from a human point of view, you know?" pointed out the black-haired boy with an awkward look. "Besides…I see no point in lying about this anymore."

"…heh, fair enough. And for the record, you technically didn't lie; you just let us make our own assumptions and rolled with it." shrugged off the tall teen with a weird grin. "As long as you don't eat me and keep backing me up if some crazy shit like that time with Kuyou happens again, you're still cool in my book, weird space lizard monster or not!"

"Gin-sempai…" mumbled Kazuto with a grateful look, only to blink as several frying pans fell atop Ginei's head, making him scream as he fell back on his ass. "Yukari-chan…?"

"GAH! Damn flat-chested witch…"

"That's what you get for insulting Kazuto-san! And stop talking about my chest!" growled the little witch before turning to look at the Lusus Naturae with a look of determination. "I…I have always known what it's like to feel like you don't belong anywhere…until I met you, Moka-san and the rest! When I'm with you, even when it's scary, or weird, or when we argue…I feel like I'm at home."

"Yukari-chan…I'm happy to hear that." smiled the black-haired boy with such pure honesty it almost seemed blinding for every girl in the room (And caused the resident werewolf to shake his head and mutter _'How?'_ ).

"Tha-that's why, I don't care what you are! You're still the Kazuto-san I love!"

"Yes, same here." softly added Mizore while popped her lollypop out of her mouth with a soft smile, her words coming out as if they were the most natural thing in the world. "You accepted me, you understand me…you showed me I didn't need to be alone or obsessed over something. You're everything I dreamed of and something as silly as not being born on this planet won't make me change my mind."

"…did she seriously say she's not 'obsessed' anymore? Also, I don't think that's exactly a silly matter…" mumbled Ginei with a resigned look, though he was summarily ignored again.

"Hey, don't try and leave me behind!" complained Kurumu while jumped to her feet, before all but flying to Kazuto's side and smothering him against her chest, must to the annoyance/resignation of most present people. "You're my Destined One! The most important person in my heart, something you have more than proved in these past months! Even if you came from another dimension, as a succubus…no, as a girl who follows her heart, I would never reject you just for your origins!"

"Thank you, Kurumu." came the Lusus Naturae's happy voice from between the girl's breasts, even as he managed to turn his head enough to look at the only person that was still silent, the first friend he had made since he came to that crazy (For most normal people) school and one of his most important people in the world. "U-uhm…Moka…?"

Staring right at him, the pink-haired vampire stood up from where she had been sitting, before making her way to his side and giving a small look towards Kurumu. Pouting, but with an understanding of the situation she probably wouldn't have respected a few weeks ago, the succubus released the boy and let her step in, letting the sealed vampiress envelop his surprised form in a hug, which he happily returned a second later.

"Kazuto…did you ever think you shouldn't be friends with me because I was a vampire?"

"You know that I didn't, Moka."

"…then that should be the only answer you need, dummy." whispered the vampire with a bright smile while nuzzling her face against his neck, barely resisting the temptation of drinking his blood at doing so. "And while she may not ever say it…I'm pretty sure you can say the same about the Other Me."

An angry wordless shaking on the Rosario around the girl's neck seemed to confirm her words more than their apparent intent of denying them.

"Heh…yeah, I guess so." chuckled the embarrassed alien experiment as he looked at everyone in the room, a smile blossoming brightly in his face at seeing their amused/accepting/normal looks. "Thanks a lot, guys…I feel much better now that you know this. And I promise I will never again hide anything from…"

"Kirigaya, you have to help me, please!"

"Wha…?"

Blinking, every member of the Newspaper Club turned in time to see their door all but slammed open by a disheveled-looking Komiya Saizou, the teen's eyes shooting through the room before zeroing on the still-hugging pair as he all but shot to their side and fell to his knees in the typical begging position.

"Please! They're going to kill me!"

"Ah…Saizou-san?" letting go of a wary-looking Moka, the surprised Kazuto walked up to the begging Monstrel with clear surprise. "It's been quite some time since we last saw you…wait, what did you say about someone wanting to kill you?"

"It's those lunatics from ANTI-THESIS! They're a bunch Monstrels (You know, hybrid-youkai like I am?) that hate the school and the oppression of 'pure' monsters towards our kind! I joined them because I thought it was better for me to stick together with a big group to not be crushed, bu-but…this morning, they were talking about killing you, and they wanted me to be the one leading the attack because they knew we 'fought' during our first day!" clearly horrified out of his mind, Saizou covered his head with his hands, as if having a haunted look. "It's as if those idiots totally forgot the way you kicked Kuyou's ass the other day, they're willingly blind because they think you're just one big weird hybrid that pretends to be a rare pure monster to spite them or something!"

"…and let me guess, having been kicked around by Kazuto before, and having seen Kuyou getting destroyed too I assume, you were 'smart' enough to refuse, and that's why they want to kill you?" deadpanned Ginei with a disbelieving look.

"…technically, it was Inner Moka-san who knocked him out in the end, but…"

"Yes! That's why I knew I had to run and the only person who could protect me from them was Kirigaya, so I ran all the way here! Please, you have to help me!" all but screamed the shaking Monstrel while all but groveling on the ground and holding onto the Lusus Naturae's leg while crying. "I don't want to die! I will even be your slave for the rest of my life, but don't let those bastards kill me!"

"…hey, who exactly is this guy anyway?" asked Kurumu with a raised eyebrow at the pathetic display.

"That's…a bit complicated." commented Moka while scratching the back of his head, even as her rosary shook angrily.

 _"He's nothing but an unimportant piece of trash. His life should matter nothing to us."_ coldly spoke the voice of Inner Moka from within the relic, drawing more than a few gazes, but the black-haired alien simply took on a thoughtful look. "…for the love of God, Kazuto, please tell me you're not actually considering this."

"I mean…we beat the crap out of Saizou-san the first day of school, and he never bothered us again…doesn't that technically mean he can be our friend now?"

 _"No, it really doesn't! How many times must I tell you how flawed that logic is?"_

"But…Kurumu and Mizore both tried to kill us and we're all good friends now. And Gin-sempai wanted to ruin my reputation and then kidnap you before too…in fact, Yukari-chan with her pranks, even if they went a bit out of hand, is the one that did the less awful things to us from a 'normal' standpoint." 'explained' him with a pondering expression. "Only one I don't think it applies is to Kuyou, he seemed more like the kind of bad guy that comes back later for a rematch…"

"Kuh!"

"…ah…"

"…well, he got us there, even if his logic still sounds very stupi…OUCH!"

"Shut up, werewolf." growled the one that had done the 'less awful things', wondering if she should feel proud or ashamed.

 _"…why do you have to be always right in the most stupid ways?"_ despaired the Super Vampire from inside the rosary.

"The-there, Other Me, it's fine…you should have gotten used to how Kazuto goes by now." awkwardly chuckled Moka while looking back at the boy. "I'm sure…"

The wall around the door leading into the clubroom chose that moment to explode, making everyone squeak in surprise and turn around in time to see a bunch of menacing-looking students that seemed to all be from the upper years, led by a sinister-looking young man of blonde hair and black eyes.

Looking straight towards Saizou's pitiful form with a twisted mix of contempt and amusement, Midou Kusabi couldn't help but snort.

"You're even more pathetic than I thought, Komiya. To think you would come groveling to the pretender and these damn 'purebred' monsters…it seems you truly never belonged with us." raising his hand to gesture forward, the apparent leader of the group made his followers tense in eager anticipation. "Show them the terror that is to face ANTI-THESIS, every…"

Arms suddenly black, elongated and releasing a weird cloud of steam, Kazuto all but blurred before the intruding group, not even giving them time to blink before both of his limbs seemingly extended backward as if they were made of rubber.

"Don't go destroying our classroom!" shouted the Lusus Naturae as his arms blurred forward. " **JET GATLING!** "

The next three seconds with a quick but painful blur of screams and the sounds of bones breaking and bodies flying against and _through_ walls as the black-haired alien's closed fists slammed into the bodies of every single Monstrel in sight at speeds that would put even a firearm to shame, somehow going faster every time they hit and bounced back and forth like elastic bands with the power of several elephants behind them.

Kusabi couldn't even actually transform at all, or finish a coherent thought about what was happening, before his nose, left arm and right left were broken and much more hits bruised him all over as he flew head-first through the wall across the hall, falling unconscious immediately.

Once again, silence reigned as the Newspaper Club deadpanned at their most bizarre member as he looked around in surprise and lowered his arms, as if he hadn't actually expected they all to go down that easily.

"Uhm…I'm sorry?"

"You should be! You actually damaged the building _more_ than them! Do you know who is the one that will have to excuse this again?! That's right, ME, the club president!"

"So-sorry, Gin-sempai! I-I will help you clean out everything!"

"…we should probably call the headmaster or something so they can come pick up these guys too…probably."

"Yeah, like Mizore said…also, they most likely need medical attention too. Not that I care much, but…"

 _"Never thought I would agree with the succubus so usually…is that boy's madness spreading to even me…?"_

"W-we probably should care a bit more, Other Me…uhm…are you okay, Saizou-kun?"

"…I was totally right in running…I'm so happy to be alive now…"

"…hey, if this guy is now our slave, does that mean I can order him around to help us with cleaning?"

"YUKARI!"

And with those crazy but, for them, extremely normal shenanigans, the group of monsters and one alien experiment turned 'human' went back to their routine…for now.

The School Festival was fast approaching, after all…

A few days later, though, in the city of Kawagoe…a white-haired 'girl' with blood red eyes and wearing a kimono and wooden sandals (Which she seemed to be constantly trying to tear off before stopping) stood before the Kirigaya Household, eyes narrowing and changing for a moment as she ignored the voices of her 'masters' in her head, the Tryums discussions about what to do next not being even remotely as important as this place that had her brother's essence all over it.

Until a _presence_ powerful and terrible like nothing she had ever felt before suddenly materialized out of nowhere behind her, making the self-proclaimed 'Mirai' spin around, wondering what the hell could be in that backwater planet that made her instincts scream like that…

Looking amused at the confused and 'lost' expression on the white-haired girl's face, the Bust Driver grinned, playing around with the letter he had come to deliver as he looked her from head to toe.

"Well then…say, 'little girl'…why do you feel the same as the school's most troublesome student…?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** There is always a bigger fish out there XP

Hope you liked the lighter and sillier feel of the Omake after the dark chapter, for things just get crazier next time…and, once again, Lusus-kun being around makes something that was very complex and dangerous in R+V be solved stupidly easy…honestly, their school problems are more dangerous than the plot at this point XD Meanwhile, the most 'mysterious' (Unless you read the manga's last chapter) character of R+V meets a certain Yandere little sister…what will happen next?

Find out next time! Until then, this is Saint, signing off!


	19. Chapter 17: Behind the Fake Smile

Hello again, everyone! Welcome to another chapter of the weirdest SAO story around, an extra-long one, because…everything changes now. The end is nigh, people.

Once again, let me thank you all for having stuck with this story for so long, it wouldn't have come so far without you…Not much more to say this time, so enjoy this, my dear readers.

As always, though, remember that help filling this story's TvTropes page is greatly appreciated!

 **Disclaimer:** SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.

* * *

Lusus Naturae _(ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)_

A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.

 **[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Behind the Fake Smile…**

 _…at the beginning, the creature felt nothing but what every single being of its unknown species did: An all-encompassing sensation of warmth and protection._

 _As simple as they were, there were a few characteristics that made its simple, unassuming and pathetic race stand out from others on its desolate planet._

 _One, they had a strong 'familial instinct'. Despite not having properly developed emotions like more complex beings would have, they were instinctually born with the need to protect their family immediate._

 _A mother would protect her offspring with her life if needed. Siblings would take care of each other as if they were one and the same._

 _Usually moving in packs of bigger 'families' together, it was not uncommon for some to wander off on their own when the time to mate came. It would take some time, for the eggs to develop and then be safe enough to be carried on the mother's back. After that, they would continue the journey until the newborns were well enough to follow by themselves, after which they would find another pack for the entire process to begin again…_

 _The other, perhaps much more interesting, feature these beings had, though…was that they had the ability to store their 'memories' on their very own DNA._

 _Amazing-sounding, but not really when you took into account how small the 'brain' of these multi-eyed lizard-like critters was. The amount of information they could process and, as such, store was so insignificant that, despite it being left encoded on their genetic makeup, they didn't really 'recall' anything beyond a human day or so, only things that stuck with them being their knowledge of their brethren and the protection they provided._

 _…but it also meant that, even as a barely-formed creature still within an egg, the being had already started to 'feel' the world around itself, even if it in a minimal way. The aforementioned feeling of warmth and protection, something that a more intelligent being would perhaps have called love and safety, was that of being carried on its mother's back, together with its sibling, within their gelatinous pre-natal sacs._

 _And then, one day…it ended. A wave of heat, a feeling of violence, confusion, and chaos, something within it changing painfully all the way down to its DNA, turning more 'malleable', more twisted than it should had ever been…_

 _Then came the six-eyed ones. Taking it and its sibling, replacing the warmth and protection with cold liquid and painful discharges. Warping them, changing them, altering them in ways that no living being should have to experience, even before they had been actually 'born'._

 _Usually, the first time their race opened their many eyes was to the sight of their progenitor and siblings, barely perceiving the world around them enough to let their instincts guide them in the simple journey that was their lives._

 _For the being dubbed by its 'creators' as X-K0940, opening **his** eyes for the first time was a nightmare, watching the world in every single direction from its eyes, in colors and with clarity his race was never meant to know, with a body that had more bones, size, mass and limbs than any of them should ever have possessed, an actual awareness developed enough to feel it all._

 _Unable to cope with it all, the creature screamed and convulsed, startling the Tryums and making his just-awakened sibling try and breach containment just to reach him._

 _It was too late, though, for his brain shut itself down from the overload, its movements having broken so many bones and ruptured so many organs that, even if the damage wasn't visible, it was fatal. Unceremoniously, X-K0940 'died' for the first time, knowing only pain._

 _And then, he came back. Barely a few seconds after it stopped moving, when his 'creators' were still scrambling over their machines to analyze what had happened, the creature breathed again, twitching madly for a moment and catching both Tryums and its siblings' attention as it looked around, confused and scared, but no longer in pain._

 _Bones had mended. Organs had knitted themselves back together. All of it…stronger, better, more adapted than before._

 _His brain had even expanded, and developed two minor ones, allowing him to easily cope with everything that had overloaded it a minute before. Now, he could take on all the cold, sterile, wrong and empty feeling of his new existence without going mad._

 _For the next hours, much to the Tryums' confusion, all X-K0940 did was release weird, cry-like noises, even as X-K0941 kept having to be sedated to not breach containment._

 _More than once, the former creature just kept wondering if staying dead wouldn't have been for the best._

 _Life felt so painful, after all…_

* * *

 _"Death is not the greatest loss in Life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live."_ –Norman Cousins ( **m̌͊͒ͨe̅͌̆ͬͤ͏͚̯͕̯̮̪A̘̩͚̹̰̙͓̽̑̇̑ͨ̚N̠̯̹ͨ̎̓̾̕I̤̲̞̍ͅnͦ͊̅͂̀̈́͘ĝ̬̹̻̑̚͞L̺̝̾̊͆̍ẹ̖͉͉̫̭͎ͯ͐̊̔͌̐͢s̜̩̫̟͍̬ͬS̓ͫ̀** ).

* * *

 **January 12th, 2024. Sea of Japan, 06:25…**

With a sharp gasp, Kirigaya Kazuto violently sat up, cracking the metallic chair against which he had been bound and tearing off more than one of the several reinforced restraints that kept (Or tried to) his body pressed against it.

Breathing heavily for several seconds with a mix of fear and confusion consuming his mind, the black-haired boy tried to make sense of what he had just seen…no, _remembered_.

Because…those memories were his, there was no doubt about that. Yet, at the same time, they weren't.

Those had been the recollections of Experiment X-K0940. Memories of the 'life' he had before becoming 'Kirigaya Kazuto'. Vivid and clear, like he would recall something he had eaten last week, Asuna saving him drowning as kids, Suguha's tenth birthday or his first kiss with Yuuna.

But that made no sense…every time he had accidentally recalled something of those times, it had been blurred and messy, more a cacophony of sounds and shadows than a real memory. And…hadn't he gotten rid of all of them back then, when he first saved Kage-chan? Then how…?

…how…how had he done THAT again? Getting rid of his 'old' memories to make space for his human ones, despite having just managed to unlock them…that…in hindsight, it was stupid and made little sense. Sure, he had felt it was the best thing to do back then, but to not even look deeper into those memories, which could have warned him about the Tryums coming, about Mirai's existence…why hadn't he done that?!

And more importantly…how had he done it? His memories…they were engraved on his DNA. He didn't need a brain to store them, just to process and interpret them as a 'human' would. And he hadn't vomited a big chunk of himself nor changed the very base of his genetic code (He wasn't even sure if he could do such a thing) that day, so how had he even…?

For a moment, the familiar visage of a sea made of flesh and blood flashed through his eyes, making him stagger in shock, finally breaking the reinforced chair and falling down.

No way…it couldn't be that simple, could it? He had been aware of the 'world' within him for a while now, of the collective consciousness that came from everything he had ever devoured, but he had never considered…

Oceans worth of blood. Planets' worth of flesh. Maybe more. And all of it, obviously, had his DNA.

Just…how many memories were stored there, just waiting for something to awaken them? And why had they come up without him trying to…?

"…I see you're finally awake."

The unexpected and unknown voice snapped the Lusus Naturae out of his confused thoughts, his eyes widening as he turned to see the reinforced door of the 'room' he was in opening. Walking in, a bespectacled man regarded him coolly from behind his glasses, his eyes narrowed and lips thinly pressed together.

He was also unarmed, unless he was hiding some weapon inside the suit he was wearing. Which, as pointless as it would have been against him, seemed like a terribly stupid choice for Kazuto, once the last thing he remembered shot through his mind, causing him to jump back to his feet and growl menacingly, eyes shifting into inhuman orbs.

"Who are you?! Where am I?! Where is my family?!"

"In that order: Seijirou Kikuoka, lieutenant colonel of the JSDF. You're in a secret facility in the middle of the Sea of Japan. And we don't know, your family managed to escape, riding giant crows and aided by some alien friends of yours, it seems." calmly answered the man while barely reacting to the black-haired boy's clear threat.

For his part, the Lusus Naturae couldn't help but feel a wave of relief washing over him at the last words. It seemed that Kage-chan and her children had managed to get everyone to safety. Finding them shouldn't be too difficult once he got out of there. But…

"…why are you answering my questions so readily, Kikuoka-san?" asked the alien experiment with narrowed eyes.

"Because I want to make this as fast as possible, and I know trying to lie to you wouldn't achieve anything." nonchalantly answered Kikuoka as he sat on the only other chair of the room, further confusing Kazuto. "Kirigaya Kazuto. Resident of Kawagoe, 14 years-old. Adopted by Kirigaya Minetaka and Kirigaya Midori at the 'official' age of 2, after having been found 'abandoned in the woods' and brought into an orphanage…that's quite the life story, eh?"

"…maybe it's not the nicest one, but is mine." coldly replied the Lusus Naturae with a frown. "But you already know what I really am, so what's the point?"

"The point is, 'Kazuto-kun', that I want to try and understand how long has this whole thing been going on under the government's nose." continued the bespectacled man while staring deeply into the alien experiment's eyes. "Why did you come to this planet for?"

"…I didn't. Or, at least, not out of my will…they brought me here…but I'm glad they did. I…have been the happiest in my life living here." sincerely answered the boy while looking away. "I just…want to be happy with my family and friends…but I have the feeling you're not just going to let me do that, are you?"

"…you would be correct, I'm afraid. I won't mince words with you, Kazuto…you're a threat. Not even for national security, you're a threat to humanity itself. And as nice and calm as you're acting right now, I have seen what you truly are…when you and your so-called 'sister' fought, the destruction you both brought…and I saw those other aliens, the ones with 6 legs and eyes, easily get the best of trained men and our country's best technology for security like it was child's play."

"You're saying that as if it was my fault or if I could somehow fix it." bitterly replied the Lusus Naturae while looking away. "I may be a 'monster' by any human definition, but I just want to be like everyone else…"

"Sadly, what you wish won't change the fact we're apparently completely defenseless against extraterrestrial attacks and hopelessly outmatched by them, or that humanity has apparently been infiltrated by them for quite some time." standing up, Kikuoka walked to the closest wall, seemingly staring into the metal as if it held some deep and unknown secret. "Thanks to your 'sister', though, we have been able to take a small step in the right direction to remedy that. Agent Prometheus…the one you may know as Nochizawa Eiji, is the first of those results."

"Eiji-san? You…do you really think HE is an example of humanity's progress? He's completely insane!" turning to glare at the man, Kazuto felt the urge to simply rip through the closest wall and get out of there grow more and more with every second. "My raw biology is corrupting…hungry. Normal human brains aren't made to deal with it, and is making him lose his sanity bit by bit! At this rate, you will only end up with him going crazy and hurting some…!"

"I'm well aware of how unstable Agent Prometheus is, thank you very much." cut him off the man with a cold tone. "Unlike what you may think, I take my job and responsibilities very seriously. While he's a great asset and an invaluable source of information, the fact that's a massive security hazard isn't lost to me…which is why precautions have been taken to keep him on a leash."

"…what does that mean?" asked the Lusus Naturae while feeling oddly tense.

"The suit he's wearing. While its original purpose is to amplify his overall physical abilities without him having to strain his mutated biology too much, we added some 'safety' modifications after upgraded it when your sister damaged it last night." continued the government agent while adjusting his glasses. "Basically, if he steps out of place, it will blow his head clean off his body."

For a moment, utter silence filled the room, even as the alien experiment stared in wide-eyed shock at the man, as if expecting for him to tell him it had just been a back joke.

When no answer came, however, the boy's distorted into a raging snarl, his flesh rippling as he bared fangs at Kikuoka and took a step forward.

"He trusts you…you went ahead and did that to him…and yet you…!"

"I don't know what's sadder, if the fact that you think Nochizawa-kun didn't have any say on the matter or that you're actually _still_ worried about him after what he did to you." mirthlessly chuckled the bespectacled man before fixing the trembling Lusus Naturae with a dead stare. "I will be blunt with you right now, 'Kazuto', or however you refer to yourself: You're going to help us."

"…what?!"

"You're going to tell us everything you know about the ones that brought you here, about the things you and your sister are capable of, about your potential weaknesses, and about how your biology works when applied to the human one." calmly explained Kikuoka as if he was talking about the weather. "Then, you will let us harvest samples of your body so we can repeat and perfect the process that created Agent Prometheus, essentially aiding humanity to be ready and prepared if…no, _when_ more things like you are fielded against us."

"…I have a better idea: I'm going to punch you hard enough to knock you out and then I'm going to tear my way out of this room before going to find my family." slowly replied Kazuto with gritted teeth, all traces of his usual smiles or innocence completely gone. "Unless…you have some crazy weapon hidden under your sleeve that can force me to cooperate with you by force?"

The agent's bitter laughter wasn't something the Lusus Naturae had been expecting as an answer, and it only made served to make him even tenser, a nagging sensation of something going horribly wrong consuming the back of his mind.

"…hahahah…! Oh, no, nothing of the sort. After all, you shrugged off a sniper round, special armor-piercing ammo, straight to the head, like it was nothing. I fear nothing short of an actual missile would be able to hurt you…and, if what Nochizawa-kun said is accurate, it wouldn't even come close to kill you." shaking his head, the bespectacled man's fake amusement was completely gone once he stared at the alien experiment once again. "No, trying to subdue you through physical means would be a wasted effort that, even if successful, would cost too many lives. You're going to help us because ironically…you have apparently become too human for your own good."

On cue, part of the wall just beside Kazuto opened, making his eyes widen in shock as the now revealed screen turned on to reveal a visage that made his blood go cold.

Shigemura Yuuna, standing within a cell, apparently shouting something that couldn't be heard through that camera.

Seemingly ignoring her, Nochizawa Eiji stood before the cell in question, just giving the desperate girl a sideways look as he said something on the earpiece he was carrying. Then, he turned around and calmly said a few words before walking away. Finally realizing he wasn't going to comply with whatever she had been asking, the songstress fell to her knees, clearly starting to cry.

At once, Kikuoka became aware of the pressure within the room shifting, the air itself seemingly turning thick and ominous, animalistic sounds escaping from the 'boy' before him as he turned around, his face shifting and twisting as his body seemed about to burst open and let unspeakable horrors emerge, inhuman eyes regarding the government agent as if he was nothing but an insect.

" **Let Yuuna go now…or I swear, there will be nothing remaining of this place when I'm do…!** "

"Try to even get out of this room without authorization and you will ruin both hers and her father's lives." mercilessly, the bespectacled man once again interrupted him, the Lusus Naturae freezing in place at the words. "That got your attention? Oh, sure, you could escape, maybe even get her and her father, who we have in another holding cell right now, out…but what then? I'm not a nobody threatening you, alien; I'm working under the direct orders of Japan's government, for the sake of the human race. These people, your family included, have been keeping you hidden despite the risk you and your kind represent for everyone living on this planet. We have more than enough proof, and a lot of recorded confessions thanks to Yuuna-san's continuous demands about what we had done with you, to make sure they have no future, even without imprisoning them."

" **That-that's…you can't…!** "

"All it would take is a call to my superiors for your mother or Shigemura Tetsuhiro to lose their jobs and never be hired anywhere else again. For your sister and Yuuna-chan over there to be denied any further education for the rest of their lives…hell, we could even already do that with your family, given they're officially fugitives as far as we're concerned at this point." ever so slowly, Kikuoka Seijirou adjusted his glasses. "Are you willing to do that, 'Kazuto'? Is just having them alive and with you enough even if you essentially ruin their futures? Or…will you collaborate with us and prevent all of that?"

Technically, he was lying about that: It would be _significantly_ difficult to achieve everything he was trying to say, at least against Shigemura Tetsuhiro, because of the man's position and his connection to Kayaba Akihiko. Not impossible for the government, of course, but still quite a chore.

Then again…the alien abomination disguised as a teen before him didn't know that, right?

" **…would you…really let them go if…I did that?"**

"Of course. We wouldn't even present any charges against your family…they will be allowed to go back to their lives, with no repercussions. You would never be leaving this facility again, of course, but they would be safe and live the rest of their lives without the burdens you bring." promised the agent while closing his eyes. "We don't really care about them, after all. They're not a threat to the country by themselves, and that's all I care about: Protecting Japan…and humanity, in this case."

" **…and you would go this far just for…that?"** mumbled Kazuto with a surprisingly hollow tone, his body slowly calming down as he slumped in place. " **Even though…I don't want to hurt anyone?** "

"Of course." immediately answered the man without hesitation. "I won't even try to lie to you…for me, a single human life is worthier than as many creatures like you are out there in the Universe."

"…I see." finished the Lusus Naturae as she slumped against the wall, his gaze looking unusually dead as he gazed back at Kikuoka, meeting nothing but cold indifference in his gaze. "I will comply, then…I will do whatever you want, just…don't do anything to them."

"I won't. After all, I already accomplished everything I wanted here." finally standing up, the bespectacled man gave him one last look before heading for the door. "Shigemura Yuuna and her father will be released and returned home sometime tonight…and we will stop looking for wherever your family is. Expect your first interview for information to be sometime this evening…and remember: We're monitoring everything you do."

With that, the government agent left the room, waiting until he had exited the adjacent hallway to finally let out the breath he had been holding, cold sweat covering his face as he steadied himself, remembering his training to try and shake off how close he probably had come to dying.

Back inside the mostly featureless room, Kirigaya Kazuto looked towards the screen showing Shigemura Yuuna crying in a cell, alone, feeling his heart painfully clenching.

Experiencing utter despair for the first time in his life, the creature the Tryums had once designated as X-K0940 looked away, trying to not think of anything, to escape the pain and emptiness consuming him.

And so, he sank once again in memories of a forgotten life, of the creature he had been before being human, hoping they would offer some solace.

They didn't.

* * *

 _"We are each our own Devil, and we make this world our Hell."_ –Oscar Wilde ( **d̲̽E̥̯̼̼̝̋̄ͅS̝̻̖̤̰͚ͭ̎p̶͇̯̟̗̲̹̪̑̀̓̄̃̈́͗ä̼͎̤̭ͯ̈̏̉́̚I̥r̈̏̓ͤ̅̿҉̰** ).

* * *

There were many things Kayaba Akihiko had never thought he would ever do in his life, or, at least, even remotely considered for even a moment. Consoling a crying child was one of them.

Now, however, he was pretty much doing something along those lines in a hilariously indirect way, Rinko watching with worried amusement as he tried to calm down MHCP-002's cries, the rest of her 'sisters' already there trying to help out even as he even promised to let her play around with modifying her own avatar, something he had denied several times in the past because of the AI's quirky personality.

Still, the point of it all was that he was _very_ bad at this, and he _really_ needed to understand why the first of his MHCPs had seemingly vanished from the face of the network, if Cardinal was to be believed.

"Please, Strea, I need you to explain properly once again: What happened with Yui?"

"Yu-Yui-nee…the monster took her! That weird monster that knew that Player Kirito she's always complaining about!" sniffled the virtual little girl while her fellow AIs looked at her with worry. "W-we need to save her!"

"So you keep saying, but…a monster on the internet…that took her…" sighing as he put a hand over his face, the father of FullDive technology looked very tired all of a sudden. "I wonder if I made a mistake by letting them become so human…"

"If you ask me, Aki-kun, I think they're adorable and you should feel proud of them." added the woman behind him as he walked to his side and offered a sympathetic smile. "However, if you think the childishness is the problem, then maybe we should try interpreting what exactly she could mean? This 'monster' she's talking about could be how she perceived a virus or…"

The lab's private phone started ringing at that moment, making both of them blink and turn around, a quick look being exchanged while Akihiko picked it up.

Only 2 people knew that number beside himself, after all, and one of them was in the room with him at that moment. Which meant…

"Kazuto? Is that you?"

" **…no Kayaba-sama, sorry.** " spoke a familiar, if slightly distorted, voice, making the man's eyes to widen as he stood straighter. " **And I'm afraid we have a big problem…** "

"Yui?! Is that you?! How…why are you calling at this number?!" demanded SAO's creator while starting to pace around the room, under the surprised/shocked gazes of Rinko and, from the screen, the other MHCPs. "Cardinal isn't picking up your signal anywhere and…!"

" **Tha-that's because I'm not on the network right now, Kayaba-sama…I'm in the real world.** "

"…what." flatly spoke Akihiko with a disbelief-filled tone.

" **I-it's very complicated, but you have to believe me, o-okay?! Mirai-chan already is doing me a big favor by letting me ta-take over just to call you like this, so I need to hurry: The government took Player Kirito…Kirigaya Kazuto, that is!** "

"Wait, wasn't Mirai the…WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" his sudden shout made the woman behind all but jump in place, but the man was too busy freaking out to realize it. "They took Kazuto?!"

" **Ye-yes, I'm afraid so…at full force, with several armed topes and…uhm, this may sound hard to believe, but they had a teenager with similar 'alien' abilities to those of his. I-I'm honestly still trying to wrap my mind around the fact he really wasn't screwing around with all that alien nonsense of his, and having actual physical organs to process that instead of data isn't helping, s-so I don't get all the details, but…** "

"Okay, Yui, center yourself, this is serious." commanded Akihiko with an unusually grave tone. "What do you know?"

For a moment, the line fell silent, and the father of FullDive tech had the weirdest feeling of déjà vu as he listened to eerie sounds of something slithering, some hissing and growling, and even what sounded like buzzing wings, somewhere in the background of the phone.

He almost felt as if he had been transported back to those long-forgotten days when he had first met Kazuto in his lab…

" **…okay, they say they have a plan. They will have a way to find him soon, but we can't do it by ourselves…we're going to need help. They say…wait, seriously?!** " seemingly unable to believe whatever 'they' had just told her, Yui seemed to demand a clearer answer for a moment, before groaning in exasperation and answering once again. " **They say a girl named Asada Shino, player Sinon within Sword Art Online, will be able to help us. Also, to try and contact every other close person to Kiri…Kazuto, that is, that you know, Kayaba-sama, because they could be in danger.** "

"I…will see to that immediately." cautiously nodded the man while mentally groaning at the upcoming that with the alien-obsessed girl. "Anything else?"

" **…fuck. Mirai says that we could use the help of someone capable and knowledgeable enough to make infiltrating a secret facility in the middle of the ocean. I don't suppose you know anyone like that, Kayaba-sama?** "

"…no, Yui. I'm not some evil mastermind that has many cliché criminals on speed-dial." deadpanned Akihiko while trying to not groan at the implications of the previous question. "Dammit, if he's in a place like that, then even trying to bring anyone along would be sui…"

" **WAIT! I got it!"** the sudden interruption caught everyone in both ends of the line off-guard, apparently, for more weird and inhuman sounds nervously filled the background even as Yui completely ignored them. " **Kayaba-sama, remember how you constantly tell me that we can't invade the privacy of the SAO Players because that's wrong and against the law?** "

"…yes?" replied the man, almost afraid of whatever he was going to hear…and the implications of how much his AIs had evolved to the point they could casually say such things (Luckily, he had monstrous alien horrors as friends, or he would be freaking out).

" **Well…I may have violated it a 'little bit' because of player Kirito, with everyone vaguely 'close' to him, after he made a weird call one night…and that led me to discover something about a certain player. You see…** "

A few minutes later, in a certain forest of Aincrad's 35th Floor…the members of the so-called 'criminal guild' known as Laughing Coffin were gathered around a campfire, casually roasting some marshmallows on it.

"So, boss, I'm curious…what do you do for a living out of this game?" randomly asked Johnny Black as his perfectly toasted sweet was finally finished.

"Who? Me?" grinning sinisterly as he took a bite of his own marshmallow, PoH let out a dark chuckle as he replied. "I kill people for money."

"…man, that's so cool." commented Xaxa while removing his own sweet treat from the fire, cursing as it came out with a few flames consuming it. "Shit! Fucking random cooking system…you shouldn't need Skill Points to roast a fucking marsh…!"

A sudden sound of rushing polygons as something teleported amongst the group of Orange Players cut the red-eyed and skull-masked young man short, as the form of a floating little girl materialized near them for the second time ever since they started playing SAO.

This one was wearing a purple dress unlike the previously white one, though.

"…there! You're Player PoH, right?!" demanded Strea while floating before him, not even giving him or his companions time to answer before she continued. "I will be brief because Kayaba-sama told me to deal with this carefully and with tact, as he's too busy organizing things IRL, but my big sister is in trouble and I don't know how to do that too well: Player Kirito has been kidnapped by the government and taken to a secret facility somewhere in the middle of the sea! We know of your…let's say, 'questionable' work, Vassago Casals, but neither he nor any of us will care about it or say anything if you help us retrieve him. I'm sending a sum of money to your personal account right now that you will hopefully find 'acceptable'. You will get thrice as much if you help us."

For a moment, PoH did nothing but stare unblinkingly at the floating form of the MHCP before quickly opening his menu and acceding the small option that allowed for Internet-browsing even from within VR, which had been added to SAO with the latest patch. At his sides, almost compulsively, his 'comrades' leaned in and let their eyes widen upon seeing the numbers that appeared.

"…tell me, how much does Kayaba Akihiko care about 'collateral damage'?"

"A lot, but…he says that saving Kirito is the biggest priority right now. And, apparently, these guys shot upon unarmed civilians just to try and get to him, so…" trailed off the AI with narrowed eyes.

"Heh…I always did like that smiling idiot anyway. I have said it before, but we're more alike that he will never admit." chuckled the man of the poncho as he stood up, giving Strea a sharp and sinister grin that didn't even make her blink as he started to Log Out. "Tell your boss you have a deal."

"…oh, wait, did I tell you about the part with the aliens?" questioned the floating virtual girl just as PoH vanished, a last confused look visible in his face as he did. "Oh well, I will tell him once he's moving! Gotta go report the success to Kayaba-sama!"

With that, MHCP-002 vanished, leaving behind a bunch of confused and lost members of Laughing Coffin, the 2 highest-ranked ones still staring at the spot their leader had vanished.

"…what the fuck just happened?" asked Johnny to seemingly no one in specific.

"…man, the boss is cooler than I thought." vaguely commented Xaxa with clear awe.

At the same time, in the real world, a frowning Yuuki Asuna was standing in a park not far from her home, arms crossed and a clearly upset/worried demeanor about her. Standing at her sides, Shinozaki Rika and Izawa Shiori were in similar states, even if the former made it more evident than the later by how she was biting her lips and typing on her phone for what felt like the umpteenth time.

"…still nothing." informed the brown-haired girl with a frown as her attempts at calling Kazuto went straight to the voicemail once again. "Ugh, dammit, just where did they go? I swear, if they just went out on some family trip without telling us and he forgot to bring his charger, I'm gonna be really mad…!"

"…you know that's not it, Rika." sadly chuckled the virtual Info Broker as her face twisted into a worried frown. "There was nobody at their home and even their mother isn't answering. Plus, even if he had forgotten, Suguha-chan _wouldn't_ also have missed her phone going off. And seriously, do you believe Kii-bou would be able to go anywhere with his family without telling us beforehand?"

"…I know, I know! It's just…ugh…I don't really wanna consider something could have happened to them. Especially after…that night at the beach." admitted Rika with a scared look, the other two girls grimacing upon remembering how terrified and powerless they felt the night of Mirai's attack, the older one especially shivering upon remembering Suguha. "You…you don't think that…'sister' of his found them, right?"

"No, Kazuto would have easily taken care of her now, especially if she's as powerless as she was the last time we saw her. Besides…there is also the fact that Yuuna isn't answering her phone." added Asuna with a worried frown as she looked down at her own phone. "That's why we called Shino-san here…if anyone could find out something weird going on about him or have any clue what happened, it's her."

"As much as it hurts my pride as an Info Broker to agree with that statement, Aa-chan is right. Sinonon is the expert when it comes to weird alien stuff, especially if it's about Kii-bou…never mind that she now has an actually alien doohickey in her hands." sighed Shiori while looking up at the small trees of the park. "Still, what's taking her so lo…?"

"Meow."

"KYAAAA!"

"Pi-Pina, no, bad alien cat! You shouldn't scare our friends!"

Barely having recover from the near-heart attack they had just suffered, all three girls turned around in time to see Ayano Keiko being lowered from one of the trees by a tentacle coming from something lurking in the dark, before it quickly retracted and the small form of Pina the cat jumped down into her master's arms, meowing at them as if it had done nothing strange.

An instant later, Asada Shino followed cue, seemingly materializing out of nowhere as her 'backpack' buzzed with an inhuman sound, its insect-like wings slowing down as she descended and the bug-like 'camera' Kazuto had slightly modified for her 'closed' once again, returning to look like some weird backpack someone obsessed with sci-fi shows would carry.

"Good, you're all here. Sorry for the delay, we received an unexpected call and had to arrange some things before changing our plans." informed the bespectacled girl as she dusted off her clothes.

"…you can turn invisible with that thing?!" demanded a wide-eyed Rika while pointing from one to the other.

"Actually, it's a perception-distortion-field, Rika-san." explained Keiko with a bubbly smile as she kept scratching her pet's head. "Apparently it messes with the capacity of living beings to notice something is, well, 'there'. Primitive Tryum stuff, at least following what Shino read in Waryum-san's notes!"

"That's…good to know, Keiko-chan." sweatdropped Asuna before facing the, arguably, weirdest of the pair, noticing her silently calculating look as she looked at her and the other 2 non-alien-obsessed (Unless you counted being close to Kazuto) girls. "…Shino-san…did you find anything about where Kazuto-kun went?"

"…yes, I did, and in quite an unexpected way actually." releasing a tired sigh, the now clearly scowling girl crossed her arms as she looked to the sky. "Someone, possibly the government, got him,"

"What?!"

"The govern…seriously?!"

"You're…not kidding. Fuck."

"Here is the thing, though…Kayaba Akihiko just called me to tell me that, and that he's putting together an 'operation', so to speak, to free him. Because I'm the only human on the planet that has Tryum technology on her and has a reason to help Kazuto, he wanted me to be a part of this. Also, Keiko has an alien-hybrid cat." as she spoke, Shino had started to walk around the three older girls in quite an ominous way, Asuna's face slowly morphing into an annoyed one as she realized where she was going. "In fact, I should have started making my way to the 'rendezvous point' already, if I'm going to help."

"…what's your point, Shino-san?" coldly questioned the Yuuki Heiress once the bespectacled girl stopped just behind them.

"This is a stupidly dangerous and, from a neutral point of view, pointless endeavor. There is a very high chance of anyone doing this getting injured or killed, and quite a few participating are just _civilians_ with little on the way of proper equipment." detachedly commented the alien-fanatic as she took off her glasses, looking extremely mature once she looked up again. "Even if we succeeded, there is a very high chance we could be making an enemy of the government or, at the very least, of people high enough in the power ladder to ruin our entire lives. It would basically be like forfeiting our futures unless we have the Devil's luck in our side."

"…does that mean you're not going to help Kii-bou?" whispered Shiori with a small voice, even though deep inside already knew the answer to the whole thing.

"Hmm? No, of course I am." smiled Shino with the most honest and sincere face any of them could remember ever seeing her with. "No matter the risks, or the consequences, I'm going to get him out of there safe and sound."

"…why? Why are you determined to do that?" asked Rika with an awed look. "Is it…because…?"

"…I owe him my life, in more ways than one." muttered the bespectacled girl while closing her eyes, putting a hand over her chest as she did so. "Maybe I wouldn't have died that day at the post office, I will never know, but I know that I wouldn't be the person I am today if he hadn't been there that day to prevent a possible tragedy. This drive that makes me look forward to discovering new things every day with excitement, all the impossible and incredible things I know now…they're all thanks to him. So, the least I can do is pay him back by saving him, don't you think?"

Asuna silently scanned the girl's gaze as she spoke, looking for something deeper. There was nothing but pure honesty in her words; she meant every single one of them. She really believed she owed everything she was to Kazuto, and she was willing to do anything to pay back that 'favor'.

…she didn't discard there may be something 'deeper' there, though. After all, with how 'crazy' Asada Shino was, in her own special way, she probably could hide a crush for the alien experiment turned boy better than Shiori or Rika ever could.

Regardless of that, though, at that moment, for that specific matter, Yuuki Asuna knew that she could trust on the girl standing before them. Almost as if an afterthought, her gaze mover to the silent youngest one, who simply was smiling encouragingly at the whole thing.

"Of course, I'm going to help too! Shino is my boss…and my best friend! Plus, Kazuto-san and Suguha-san need help, so we will provide all we can!"

"Meow."

…well, at least the young girl was simpler to read. And, despite her apparent childish innocence, the chestnut-haired heiress knew that she was way sharper and more dangerous than any girl her age had any right to be, probably because of the weird mindset Shino had all but imprinted on her. As well as Kazuto being a part of her life too, of course.

Finally, with her mind finally set, the girl stepped forward, stopping just before the amused-looking alien-fanatic and meeting her eyes challengingly.

"I am going too."

"…of course you are. I never doubted that for even a second." chuckled Shino before looking back at the other 2 girls. "Well, I already told you how much is at risk here and that there is no guarantee we…"

"Shut up and get us to that damn rendezvous point." growled Rika while walking forward. "Like hell I'm letting…my best client IRL and in-game to be experimented on by the government!"

"Unlike Liz-chi, I'm not going to pretend this is about ramen shops or being a blacksmith. I simply can't stand the thought of anything bad happening to Kii-bou." taking a deep breath and ignoring the looks she got at her almost-confession, Shiori let her trademark grin appear on her face. "Plus, think of how much he's going to owe us when we save his life!"

"…oh man, we're all crazy, eh? Mom would be SO disappointed if she knew I'm doing all of this for a boy…" shaking her head at her own joke, the bespectacled girl looked up, a grin on her own appearing on her face once again. "Well then, buckle up girls. Our 'rides' are here."

Blinking, the entire group sans Keiko looked up, confused.

Staring back at them, 3 crows tilted their heads to the side, cawing weirdly as their right eyes shifted unnaturally.

* * *

 _"No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness."–_ Aristotle ( **L̷̗̘̼ͨͤ͆͌i̡̬̦a̼̤͇͛Ŕ͂̽ͪ̌͏̠** ).

* * *

 _At some point…X-K0940 lost count of how many times he had 'died'._

 _When did he lose count of it, a part of him wondered?_

 _Was it when they burned him alive so brutally that most of his insides melted rather than burned, only to painfully regenerate all but immune to fire? When they threw him into a massive body of non-breathable liquid and what passed as his lungs all but exploded, only to return capable to breathe through gills drawing oxygen from the water?_

 _Maybe when they tried to pulverize his entire body. When they used lasers to cut him to small pieces. Or when they threw him into the void of space…he had honestly thought he wouldn't be able to come back from that one._

 _There was more than a hint of maddened despair within his mind when he somehow did, though, even tougher than before._

 _He forced himself to never grow immune to most of the toxins or drugs they used on them, though. The tortured being liked the feeling of losing his consciousness and being forced to sleep. It gave him a semblance of peace, made him wonder if perhaps one day he would just not wake up, letting it all end…_

 _And then, he and his sibling were thrown into a random planet for 'field testing' for the first time. With nothing but orders to 'feed and survive' embedded into their DNA by their 'creators', the pair of abominations landed and, for the first time in an eternity, felt a fake semblance of 'freedom'._

 _X-K0941 was immediately on guard, feeling predators nearby that had zeroed on them as a threat, ready to fight them off. Her sibling, however, didn't care. He was just so tired, so sick of everything…he just wanted it to end. And so, he ignored it all and started eating the plant matter over the ground, hoping that maybe he would find something on the 'grass' that could let him sleep forever._

 _However, he realized something was 'wrong' the moment he started eating. Unlike the processed, synthetic food the Tryums had fed them with to keep them alive, this…this was having a strange effect on him. Suddenly, he knew how the plants he was eating worked, he knew how they processed energy and converted nutrients, and he knew…how to do that HIMSELF._

 _Maybe he could even…do it himself…?_

 _A screech of warning reached his brain too late, coming straight from his sibling. One of the beasts she had apparently been fighting off while he apathetically ate had gotten past her. Straight towards him._

 _Somehow, the glowing claws of the multi-limbed creature pierced through X-K0940's impossibly thick and resistant skin. Somehow, they shredded through its steel-like muscles and flesh. Once again, the terrible pain of living, the thing that he **hated** the most, was inflicted upon him._

 _Releasing an inhumanly agonic sound, the abomination of nature retaliated against the pain, experiencing what it was to lash out and succeed for the first time in his life._

 _Tendrils grew, sharp with teeth, cutting through the creature trying to rend into his body with almost laughable easiness. The beast's 3 eyes reflected nothing shock and confused, having died before it realized what was happening. Roaring angrily for the first time in his miserable existence, X-K0940 twisted in place as his body regenerated, the mutilated corpse of the creature that had tried to eat him still lying atop him as his insane biology found a way to become immune to whatever had been in those claws…_

 _His sibling finally reached him, releasing a worried sound. She had finished killing all the other beasts, apparently, and was now trying to hold down his thrashing body as he simply squealed in anger. Then, as if having an epiphany, X-K0941 reached into to the destroyed remains of the predator that had attacked them and pushed a big chunk of it down her sibling's throat._

 _For a moment, the shocked abomination choked around his sibling's tendril, then, almost reluctantly, swallowed the bloody flesh._

 _Something unnatural changed within him at that moment._

 _Suddenly, X-K0940 **understood**. Slowly, bits and pieces of information were fed into his very own DNA, even as his sibling kept shoving down more and more flesh through his mouth. He knew how to mutate his flesh into the claws that had hurt him, how to perfectly recreate the chemical reactions (Even if he didn't know such words to name it with back then) that would allow them to vibrate so fast and hot they could slice through almost anything, his sibling awed as she felt it all through their instinctual link, marveling in this ability that she didn't share…_

 _That's when she let him ate the creature's head. Its brain. For a moment, he froze._

 _Then, he started screaming, as he felt hopelessness deeper than ever before…_

B̫̭̜̲̂͛̃ͩ͞e̵̤͌g̯̻̤͚̗͎̲͋̔̎̿͢ĭ̳̜̳̭̖̦̰ͦ͒́̂̀͡n̖͙̄́̂̅̆n̗̪̣̹͕͈͒̔̿ͬ̉ͯ̄͘i̡̱̤̜̗͔̾ͤ̐ͭ͋͌ṋ̪̞͈͇̥̖͗g͓̟͑̈́̑͌̂.̵̩̻̠̟͍̲.̠̼͙̮̗̌́.͕͔̩̝̤ͯ̌͒̚̕

"…ya? Kirigaya?"

With a somewhat sharp gasp, Kazuto's head snapped to the side, his body jerking in an unnatural way as Kikuoka recoiled despite having been sitting over 4 meters away from him. Off to the side, the black-haired boy realized Eiji, who had been standing there silently through the entire 'interview' had stood to the side watching him like a hawk, had moved and looked ready to blast him with the Tryum Proto-Device, a scowl clear on his face.

"I…sorry, I got lost in thought for a moment. Did you need to ask anything else?"

"…no, that was it. Just wanted to tell you that we will come later to extract the first batch of biological samples." declared the bespectacled man with narrowed eyes. "…do you often get so lost in thought your body warps inhumanly?"

"No…I'm just not feeling very happy, as you must know." bitterly replied the alien experiment while trying to shake off the memories he had immersed himself in after having been answering as many questions about his origins and abilities to the government agent.

"…you know, now that you say it, there IS something I would like to know." added Kikuoka as he looked down at the file he carried once again. "Why do you smile?"

"…what?" blinked Kazuto with clear surprise, the question obviously catching him off guard.

"What you heard: Why? I have a lot of reports about you…from your time at the orphanage, kindergarten, elementary and middle school. Plus a few testimonies obtained through, let's say, less legal means. All of them agree in one thing…Kirigaya Kazuto is always smiling. No matter what, when or where, he always has a smile on his face, to a point others his age sometimes describe as 'unnerving' as if he wasn't a 'normal person' at all." narrated the bespectacled man before his eyes once again moved towards the now silent boy. "Even in Sword Art Online's Beta Test, you gained a reputation as the 'Smiling Swordsman' because of it, so I want to know…is there a reason for that? Some compulsion that comes from what you are, perhaps? Something innate to your species?"

"I…why…?" suddenly seeming strangely lost, the black-haired boy blinked. "I smile because…I want to be happy…because I want…"

 _L͉̻͕͎̙ͩ͊͐̽̎̆ͅi̸̠̗͓͍ͥ̾ͨȩ͚̯ͦ͐̍s͆ͯ_

"…Kazuto?"

"…because I want to…always be happy…so that…"

 _S̠͖̝̲͒̈́̇ͦ̔̍̊m͇̦̩̟̒̋̏͌͊̒i̧̗ͤ̐ĺ̞͔̳̦ė̞̀ͬ̓ͪͥ ̩̣͔̪͖̜͚̒ͨ̌̐ͥŤ̯̟̠̀͋̅͑̓̅ỏ̩̬͉̜͛ͫ̿͒ͨ̈̀ ̈̈́ͥ̏̉̔̆͡F̬͇̗̙̳̙͉̑͐̚ô̳r̶̞̖̝͎͙̒̉ͅg̨͉͍̲͕̪̻̙̋̑̑ͬĕ͚̹̝̞͈̺͜ṯ͈̺͂̊̈́_

"…so that I…don't…"

"Your…your eyes…"

"Hey…is he fucking crying?"

 _F̢ͨ̓͒͂͛oͧ̈́̾̋͆҉͔̞͖̝̟͍̮r̫͓͙ͣͥ̇ͬ͗̂͢g̞͓̳̱̫̻͉ͣͩ̈́̋̚e̘̎̊t̥͍͉̩͖̰ͪ̇ͯ̾̏ͅ ̵̘̆̿w͕̻͖̪̠̎ͦ̓͘h̓͊a̽̆͗̉ͪt̷̬͉ ̈́́͏̥̤̖͓͖̺W̯̙͔̖͎̽Ě̏̔͛̾ ̫͎͓̫͖͢a͠r̷̤̼̲͙̗̥͐́̊ͣ̆̚e̸͓̬̺̬͇̭͖̎ͮ̋͐ͧͯ_

"…why did I start to smile?" whispered Kazuto with a hollow look, shivering as he felt something stirring deep within him, the ever-lasting beating of a heart that did not belong echoing like drums in the unusually silent ocean within him. "Why…?"

"…welp, congrats, Kikuoka-san, I think you broke him." sniggered Eiji with a small shake of his head as he saw the alien abomination staring at nothing and mumbling nonsense as tears fell from his eyes. "Let's get out and take a break before the freak gets even weirder."

"…yes, I think that will help. You go back to keep an eye on the prisoners in case his alien friends try and show up again, I will go and prepare the team to take the biological samples." accepted Kikuoka while standing up, giving the seemingly insane 'boy' as he exited the room. "With some luck, we will have an entire team ready for the next time they think infiltrating on a government facility without care is something they can casually do."

"Heh, that sounds like fun." chuckled the ash-haired young man as he moved to follow. "I wonder if any of them will be half as good as m…"

"Eiji-kun." suddenly called out Kazuto with a surprisingly desperate boy, causing a shiver to run down the hybrid's back as he spun around, seeing him shaking and with an empty stare. "Le-let me see Yuuna, please…"

"…seriously?" scowling heavily, Eiji turned around and started to walk away, clearly annoyed. "You can't get out of this room, remember? And even if you could, I wouldn't…"

"Ple-please! You don't get it! I…I need her…or Sugu, or Asuna…mom, dad or Argo-sensei…Rika or the Sleeping Knights…Akihiko-kun, Shino, Keiko, Kage-chan…Waryum-jii…anyone…" cried the weirdly breathless alien abomination as he held his head. "I can't…I can't smile…I NEED to smile…!"

"Okay, now you're just creeping me out for no reason." frowned the ash-haired boy as he neared the reinforced door, opening it again as he started to step out. "No matter how much you plead, you're never going to see any of them ever again, you alien mons…"

"Can you hear it?" suddenly demanded, borderline pleaded, Kazuto, an arm reaching out to the suddenly frozen Eiji. "You…you have a bit of us inside you, right? Then…can you…?"

"I don't know what you are…"

 _Ṯ̫̘̻̮̱͍ͫͪ̈́͡h͖̖͞ę̩͕̼̗̀̒ ͚̫ͤ̿̃͒̓T̰̞͍ͅi͚̘͓̤̳̇̄m̧̤̼̯̤̪̖̮̈̏e͈̘͚̙̯̖͊ͥ̄̓́̎ ̤͈̱̱̘̮̖ͦ̈̏I̐͗͏͚̫s̡̩̭̹̼̓ͅ ͈͖̯̪̳C̡ͪͧ̋o͚͖̦͍̹͉̯͊ͥ͢m̴̬͎͕͇͎͖͓̓ͣͬ͗ͭ͌i̥͍n̟̘̲̏ͦ̓͋ͤͭͅg̬̳͇͖ͦ̊͐͛̌̽̾_

For a second, Eiji froze in place, his eyes darting through the mostly empty room, as if looking for something that wasn't there.

"…can you?"

"I don't hear anything, freak. Now leave me alone!" angrily retorted the hybrid before slamming the door closed, forcing himself to ignore the weird shivers and the throbbing coming from his right eye. Without another word, he stomped away.

Left alone within the room/cell, Kirigaya Kazuto's head hung down, sinking once again in memories he had never asked to recover.

Alone with Himself…

 **W̸̩̞̼̚ẽ̓ͯ͟ ̠͚̼͚̲̓K̠n̖̗͈͔͂ͯo̢̠̩̟̮̫͒̏w̜͕̻̬͖̿̇̑͠ ̫̑̔͛͑̚T͚͇̤̞̩͇̆̆̍̒ȟ͕̱̗̬̚͘è͖̳̠̖̠͇̊̋̀̚ͅ ̴͓ͬͧ̋ͬͯ̽T̗͚̘̖̮̠̝r̎̃̆͂ͪ̄̄͏̘u̧͗͛t̝͔̩͋͛̾͗̚ḥ̹͖͙͇̄**

At the same time, Waryum the Tryum finished loading a certain code within his Omni-Device, having turned the flying insect-like machine into a more 'compact' mode he now carried, unfolding it slightly to let it resemble some sort of bizarre rifle.

"…are you going to leave it on manual mode? Seriously?" asked a disbelieving Grotek as he saw the Earth-dwelling Tryum nod to himself. "You…you DO know that the automatic system is better than the best marksmanship examples on seven galaxies, right?"

"I do…but this is kind of…personal." declared the Third-Rate Researcher while closing his six eyes for a moment, his grip on the tool tightening for a second. "If I'm going to kill X-K0940, I want to do it with my own hands."

"That…sounds stupidly like some flawed human logic, but suit yourself. As long as you don't miss, we won't have to worry about anything." conceded Ubom while looking worriedly at the holographic replica of Earth floating on the center of the bridge.

Angry red 'lines' kept blinking in and out of existence all around it, as if they were coiling over the planet like demented snakes…or tendrils.

"Extra-dimensional pulsations keep growing by the hour…sometimes they vanish completely, but then they spike up again in more than worrying ways. They have long-since surpassed the Security Threshold we would normally use for 'Abandon the Planet and put a Galaxy between us and it'." informed a worried Pibap as he gulped, looking up from his screen towards the Researchers. "Whatever it is that X-K0940 is becoming…or bringing through himself…it could be here at any moment now…it seems that those humans taking him may have exponentially accelerated the process, somehow."

Waryum frowned at that, his grip on the Omni-Device tightening slightly, recalling how they had found with surprise that Kazuto wasn't at his home anymore when they checked earlier.

A quick search of where he could have gone had let them find his location just in to see Nochizawa Eiji carrying his unconscious body into a reinforced van, carrying the Proto-Device of the deceased Puyar with him.

Of course X-K0941's biology had let him use it…those two hellish 'siblings' were a genetic nightmare and a threat to their entire species since the moment the two idiots in charge of the ship 'changed' them.

They simply didn't know it, back then.

"…then there is no time left to lose." somberly declared the Earth-dwelling Tryum as he looked down at the weapon in his hands. "Our objective is…ending X-K094, with recovering the stolen Proto-Device, destroying the rouge hybrid and erasing any data the humans have on us as secondary goals. Let's go and end this."

As he said those words, Waryum turned around and headed for the back of the bridge, ready to be teleported, several other Tryums carrying Proto-Devices following cue.

Unnoticed by him, though, Ubom and Grotek exchanged a quick look behind his back, the former nodding while the latter grabbed his own Omni-Device and followed the 'attack team'.

All the while, the ominous beating of an unnatural 'heart' kept echoing, unseen 'eyes' watching everything that took place…

* * *

 _"Sometimes human places create inhuman monsters…"–_ Stephen King ( **m̩͎͎̖̻̘̫̆̈́͗̽o̰͎͙̩̜͖͍ͫ͆̀̓Ñ͚͎͍̤̹͇ͤ͆͗̈͑̌S̴̼̙̬ͮ͐ͩ̂͒̅͌ͅͅT̫͎̪̖͞ẹ̳͈͔͔̺̘̌̒̏ͨr̠̫̠̟̉͗̊.̥͙͓̒́ͦ͝ͅ.̰̰͍̥͖͌̎.̝̩̣̞̳̻̓͊̎ͬͬ̇̚?̶̜̩̞̖̤̠̣͒̈ͤ̈́** )

* * *

Vassago Casals wasn't a good man. He knew and accepted this, everyone that knew him in real life knew this, and even a few people that did so only in VR too.

However, despite the terrible things he had done, he had always been an expert in keeping calm under pressure, sweet-talking his way out of dangerous situations and even smoothly manipulating others without them realizing it. Because of this, he had managed to see countless strange and bizarre things and walk away alive and, more often than not, unharmed. There was almost nothing in this world that could truly take him by surprise.

Still, arriving at the meeting point he had been given for what could be, if even half of the description was to be believed, his weirdest assignment yet and finding a frustrated-looking woman, several teenage girls hugging and whispering things to each other and a scraggly-looking man looking lost and scratching the head of 3 oddly-still crows probably was something that could. The mercenary actually stopped to blink several times, wondering if perhaps he had gone to the wrong place or started hallucinating.

That's when the 3 crows turned to look at him with eerie synchronicity and caw in his direction; everyone finally seemed to become aware of his presence at that. Eyes narrowing slightly, the woman walked up to him without hesitation, standing tall and somehow looking down at him despite being actually a few inches shorter than him.

Given to the fact that he was blatantly carrying a gun at his side, that was honestly quite impressive, especially for someone that didn't seem to have any kind of military training or similar.

"So, you're Vassago Casals? Kayaba-san informed us about you."

"…yes. And you are…?"

"Kirigaya Midori. I am…Kazuto's mother."

"Ah, I see, so you're _his_ mother…I would say that I can see the resemblance, but you seem like a far more serious person than he ever showed." commented the man as his eyes roamed the area, noticing the teenage girls had stepped closer. "And looking again, I think I see quite a few familiar faces here too…"

"PoH. Why am I not surprised you're actually a scumbag in real life too?" spat Rika with clear annoyance, crossing her arms and glaring at him as if this was still the virtual world and not a shady and dangerous IRL situation. "…why are you even helping us?"

"Money. Also, it sounded like a lot of fun…though I still can't wrap my head around the fact that the Smiling Swordsman is apparently an alien." chuckled Vassago while shaking his head. "Somehow, though, that would explain a lot about his constant weirdness and tenacity to lie to himse…"

"Shut up. None of us cares about that." coldly interrupted Suguha as she walked forward, her mother sparing her a worried look as she stopped at their side and stared unblinkingly at the mercenary. "Will you help us get Onii-chan back or not?"

For a moment, the man that had seen more blood in just a year of his life than all the presents combined in their entire lives felt a shiver run down his spine, staring into the eyes of that teenage girl making him realize there was something 'wrong' with them that he had only seen in a few mentally damaged or deranged people. Also, there was the strange bit about his instincts screaming to stay away from her right leg, despite no weapon seeming to be concealed there or she looking even remotely as strong as him…

"…I accepted the job and the money, but honestly? I wasn't told I would have to be a babysitter." frowned Vassago while trying to shake off that strange feeling, added with that of something _watching_ him out of the corner of his eyes, when thoughts of taking down the girl as a precaution crossed his mind. "There is a lot of us, way too many to infiltrate anywhere. And that's not even counting you're all just, bluntly, a bunch of teenage girls. I would have trouble already keeping Fearless Mom here from dying, but you're all just going to be murdered if this place we're aiming for is even a fraction as secret as I have been told it…"

" **You won't have to worry about that.** " came a distorted and raspy voice from somewhere within the tree line, making the sinister man freeze as a chill echoed into his soul, everyone's eyes turning as a humanoid thing emerged from the darkness. " **We're more than capable of keeping everyone here alive…and they won't be as helpless as you think.** "

Paralyzed, the mercenary stared wide-eyed at the thing, black and creepy, with small tendrils flapping around, way too many red eyes filled with pulsating black veins and mouths in places that shouldn't belong…

"Mirai. I see you finally made it." neutrally commented Suguha while everyone else that had been at the beach that fateful night stared at the creature with discomfort, distrust or shock. "…it's good to see you're no worse for wear."

" **I still have Yui screaming into my mind about how dangerous this is and to let her back into the network before we do it, so I think it evens out.** " mirthlessly replied the alien experiment while taking a few steps forward, her gaze resting on the rest of the humans present. **"…we meet again.** "

"…I thought you couldn't change anymore?" questioned Asuna while glaring at the 'girl' with clear distaste.

Given her last memory of 'Mirai' was of the thing trying to kill her and everyone else, and what it had almost done to Kazuto, that was only natural, though.

" **I can't. At least, not by myself. I'm on borrowed time here, this fresh DNA isn't going to last me and I have the minimal biomass to mutate at all, so we need to get brother out of there fast.** "

"…I think you're aware of it, but none of us trusts you, 'Mirai'. The moment you try anything that could endanger us, I will put an end to you." stated Shino while standing protectively before an also glaring Keiko, her 'backpack' unfolded and glowing menacingly towards the creature. "I hope you know that."

"Meow!" agreed Pina while menacingly glaring from between the girls' legs.

" **…that's fair. You would be fools to blindly trust me after our last meeting. I'm glad to see you humans aren't an intelligent species just for show**." snorted Mirai while shaking her head. "Still, we all want the same thing…to free my brother from those bastards, whatever it takes."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." quoted Shiori while shrugging softly at the gazes her words attracted. "I can accept that combined with what Suguha-chan told us before, I guess."

As if she had been waiting to be mentioned, the young kendoka walked forward and put a hand atop the alien abomination's chest without hesitation, staring straight at what passed for a 'head' in her current form.

An eternity seems to take place in the single instant blue-gray eyes stared into the nightmarish alien orbs that she had seen so many times in her brother's face, yet were still fundamentally different.

"…thank you for saving my life."

" **…he would have never forgiven me if I just let you die.** "

"I know. And that's why I'm sure you won't try anything today." nodding with a sharp look, the black-haired girl let go of Mirai and extended a hand towards her. "Let's go save… ** _our_** brother."

In response to her words, the silent forms that had been clearly accompanying the alien 'girl' from the beginning roared in approval, their monstrous shape descending, emerging or jumping down from the trees, startling more than one of the presents as they slightly towered over them.

Allowing herself a small chuckle and ignoring Yui calling her a chronic attention-seeker for that, the being the Tryums had called X-K0941 reached with her tendrils towards the fast at work bone-covered creatures, grabbing the 'tools' of bone they had quickly prepared and handed them over to the humans present.

Asuna wordlessly held the rapier, inspecting it up and done as it shone briefly and pulsated from within.

Rika gave the hammer in her hands a critical look, shrugging for a moment before clamping the creepy-looking kite shield on her forearm, letting it 'bite' slightly into her clothing.

Keiko gripped the humming dagger, gave it a simple twirl and smiled as she lowered her hands.

Methodically, Shiori put the deadly-looking claws over her arms, idly looking at the pulsating 'pops' above the hand-parts.

Shino looked at the spear with a critical eye, before having her alien-backpack 'wrap' around it and turning it into some bizarre lance-hybrid.

And Suguha simply took the katana and nodded once to the monstrous newcomers as they 'paired up' with the more 'squishy' humans, the girl as ready as them to risk her life to save her most precious person.

Staring dumbfounded, a deranged smile slowly made its way on Vassago Casals' face, even as he barely resisted the urge to laugh out loud.

This was crazy, bizarre, impossible…!

He was SO glad he accepted this job!

"…do you know how to use a gun, Midori-san?" asked the sinister man while looking at the resigned woman (Who apparently had been staring at the girls and monsters with a hint of annoyance).

"…not at all. But, if movies are to be believed, I just have to aim and shoot, right?"

Wordlessly, the mercenary handed her the gun he had on his side, making sure to remove the safety first even as Midori cautiously held the weapon.

"That would do, as long as you don't separate from me. Just try to account for the recoil, okay?" chuckling darkly, Vassago stepped forward, drawing the attention of humans and 'aliens' alike towards him, feeling his blood pumping like it hadn't done in his entire life. "Okay then…let's save that smile-loving alien bastard!"

Amidst the ensuing determination…Tsuboi Ryoutarou watched nervously before leaning down towards Kage-chan, the crow looking up at him in clear confusion.

"Do…do you think they have forgotten I don't technically need to go risk my life for this? They're not…going to drag me with them, right?"

All he received were several cawing sounds in response.

Out of the corner of their eyes, something watched on, even as an ever-shifting pressure continued growing…

* * *

 _"do you wanna have a bad time?"_ –Sans ( **ş̫̓̿I̹̳͌ͮ̏ͥñ̝̭̗͛̍̆͢** ).

* * *

Shigemura Yuuna was having a nightmare.

On it, she went through a monotonous but satisfying High School Life. She made some friends as she got the best grades she could, always wanting to make her father proud. Sometimes, she would hang out with her nervous and lonely childhood friend, who never quite mustered the courage to tell her something.

Eventually, she went to college and gained a reputation amongst the students as a blast when it came to karaoke, which was the closest she could ever get to indulging on her by-then-distant dream of being an idol. Her dad being proud of her and not worrying more than needed, especially since her mom died, was more important, after all.

She graduated the amongst best of her class, but…it was wrong. It was all wrong.

Because through it all, she felt empty. She _knew_ something was missing. Her life felt hollow.

Because, in that nightmare,…she had never gone with her father to Kayaba Akihiko's lab when she was young. She never met a strange boy that shouldn't be there and that would become her 'singing rival'…she never fell in love with him.

And she never was almost traumatized, horrified or almost killed because he was actually some sort of alien horror from outer space. She never had to entertain the thought of sharing his affections with other girls. Anyone normal would have been glad for that, right?

Except that she…wasn't. All she could think of was their first kiss while flying high in the sky, the crazy yet fun moments with him and everyone else, her true friends, the closest thing she had to a family besides her father.

His warm smiles, his honest _'I love you'_ , his weird determination to make her and everyone he cared for happy…

The Shigemura Yuuna that graduated as a successful college student would never feel even a fraction of happiness as the one that had sang until exhaustion against that alien experiment turned young boy had every day.

And it was because of that reason that she woke up with a gasp, tears fresh in her eyes before she rubbed them off and clenched her fists, standing up from the small bed within the 'room' and barely sparing a glance to the 'window' that showed the ocean before reaching the closed door of her cell and slamming her closed fists against it several times.

"Hey! HEY! Is anyone there?! I want to…!"

"I'm here, Yuuna." scowling, the songstress turned to look at the carefully neutral face of who she had once considered her first friend ever. "I wouldn't recommend continuing that, though, your hands will break long before that door gets even scratched."

"Eiji-kun…" bitterly mumbled the girl as her hands clenched around the doorframe. "Let me out."

"…I already told you before, I can't do that." sighed the hybrid while looking away. "…don't worry though; you and your father will be released soon. From what I have been told, the helicopter that will take you back to the mainland is almost…"

"I don't care about that! I want to see Kazuto!" demanded Yuuna while baring her teeth, feeling part of her neck tingling oddly as she did so. "I know you have him here too!"

The events of earlier in the day have been like some weird nightmare for the songstress, and it had been too late by the time she could properly react. Then again, when your childhood friend that had been missing for a few days after a crazy alien had apparently tortured him showed up being part-alien to kidnap you and your dad, effortlessly knocking out the latter when he tried to attack him, _some_ level of shock was more than expected.

Still, Eiji had been quite clear, once she woke up in that cell, that they were there to 'make sure the freak cooperated' and that 'he was sorry it had come down to that, but did not regret anything anymore'. She may not have been a conspiracy-expert like Shino was, but the girl had still been more than able to connect the dots after a while.

Whatever the hell they wanted to do (Or _were already doing_ , as a dark part of her mind mentioned) to Kazuto, she would be dammed if she was the reason for it. Knowing that threatening something about her was the only way the alien boy hadn't already torn that place apart to get out and get her out too in the process made her feel sick.

This time, the ash-haired boy didn't even bother hiding his distaste at what she had said; his eyes cold once he turned back to her.

"You can't. Even if him having contact with anyone wasn't strictly forbidden as the most important rule of this facility, I wouldn't let you." growled the hybrid while glaring down at her through the door's opening. "Nobody unrelated to this place is ever going to see that freak again."

"You can't do that!" all but snarled Yuuna as her grip on the door tightened, rage filling her eyes as he tried and failed to open it once again. "You can't just lock him away forever!"

"We can, and we will. He technically has no human rights, and he has 'willingly' agreed to stay and provide 'samples' for Kikuoka-san and his team. First batch was actually collected around an hour ago…but hey, do you know the best part?" his scowl turning into an almost eager look, Eiji's face closed in on the door's opening, letting the girl see how all his teeth had sharpened inhumanly. "Once there is an entire squad of people like me, the first thing we're going to do is go hunt and end that 'little sister' of his. I will finally have my revenge for what that thing did to me."

"…what happened to you, Eiji-kun? When did you become…so twisted?" whispered the songstress as angry tears fell from her eyes.

"When that thing tortured me as if I was trash just to get the information she wanted, because she thought itself superior to me, and then I saw you had been cozy with its brethren for who knows how long." confessed the ash-haired boy with an empty tone, his eyes equally dead as he looked at the girl he had once loved to an almost obsessive degree.

"…I love him, Eiji-kun." simply said Yuuna once she felt nothing else could be said, uncaring of the flash of hurt that was visible in his eyes as she easily said those words. "Please…if you ever cared about me, let me see him. Now. I…I feel that, if I don't, something I will regret forever will happen…"

"I…I told you already, I can't…"

Whatever else Eiji wanted to say was interrupted because, at that moment, all lights in the hallway and the cell went out…at least for a few seconds before they turned on again, leaving a confused songstress staring around in confusion while Eiji grinned darkly as what sounded like muted explosions echoed in the distance.

"Wha-what's going on?!"

"Those aliens from before came again, to recover their 'pet' I'm guessing. Sadly, they probably didn't expect we would be ready for them. As Kikuoka-san said, the greatest disadvantage of relying on super-advanced technology is that it won't affect things that are too primitive." chuckled the hybrid as he turned around and reached for his earpiece.

"Wha-what does that mean…?"

"Last night, after their impromptu visit, Kikuoka had everyone go and rig the generators so that they switched into manual mode if someone tried to shut them down. Even if we can't control them or turn them off now, all defenses are online and programmed to end those bastards." casually informed the ash-haired boy as he activated his device. "Agent Prometheus reporting from the detention area. Where are the intruders and how should I…?"

Once again, Eiji was brutally and unexpectedly interrupted. This time, though, it was for something far more sinister than flickering lights.

It was a scream. Warped and high-pitched to almost bizarre levels…but still undeniably human. Then, it was suddenly interrupted, as if it had cut-off midway by something unnatural.

Eyes wide, the hybrid stared in a certain direction, his ears twitching inhumanly for a moment as if he was focusing on something only he could hear.

"What was that?!" shouted Yuuna while looking to the side with clear fear.

"That came from…! But there shouldn't be…!" ignoring what the girl had said, the ash-haired boy once again touched his earpiece, a hint of panic in his eyes as he raised his voice. "Kikuoka-san, are you in the primary containment cell?! What's going on?! Hello…? Kikuoka-san, answer m…AAAAGGHHH!"

"Eiji-kun?!" screamed the songstress upon seeing her once-friend start to scream, his entire body 'bulging' for a moment and straining against the suit he was wearing, before forcefully shrinking back to normal, his hands shooting towards his head as he spun around and violently slammed it against the nearest wall, denting it. "Wha…?!"

" **Inside! Why?! Sins! Notforgotten!** " suddenly rambled Eiji with a 'distorted' voice, making Yuuna's skin crawl as his form seemed to shift again, his hands digging into his skull as they turned to claws for an instant. " **Truthhurts! Nevershouldhavetried! Smile…smile…must smile…to forget…to pretend…to deny…to HIDE…** "

"What…?" whispered the girl as she took a step back just as the hybrid turned around, barely able to suppress a scream when he did so. "Eiji-kun…?!"

His face was twisted into a parody of a smile, too wide and sharp to the point it seemed to hurt…one that he clearly was doing against his will, if the clear horror in his eyes, both the human and the inhuman one, was anything to go by, even as tears of blood ran down from them.

" **To hide…!** "

"Hi-hide…what?"

" **How Much We Hate It.** "

This time, the songstress was unable to not scream as the boy's face slammed against her cell's door, heavily damaging it as he stared right into her eyes.

"Can You Hear It…?"

Yuuna didn't open her mouth to ask what he was talking about. She didn't have to.

(Ḭ̣̇̾̀͊̾ͯ ̹͚͈̺̳ͣ͊̃͂ͫͅH͕̓̆ͣ̍̅ͥȧ͍̠̰̠̳͋͆̓͆̈́t̩͎͖̙͙͈̖ͨȇ̟̗̜̗̼̯͙ͫ́̓ ̒҉̮̜̪I̥̩̪͙̫̥̐́ͅt͉̺͎̞̓́ͭ̆́)

At once, her head snapped to the side, towards the window, the ocean…the sky above them.

It was ripping itself open. The sky…was being torn apart.

All around the planet, every single living being froze for an instant, from the biggest cities to the poles, from the driest deserts to the deepest jungles, from the tallest mountains to the ocean's depths, from the simplest and most primitive organisms to the humans of all kinds, all of them suddenly sharing a single simple, yet unnatural, feeling.

At once, all life on earth able of doing so **looked up**.

And they saw the sky tearing itself open in countless places, in almost every corner of the world that there was enough Life to see it.

Beyond the tears…titanic eyes stared back at them, eyes countless times bigger than the world they all lived in, floating atop a red sky, about a churning nightmarish 'sea' that was bubbling angrily, hungrily…

 **(̙͙͚͇͇͕̎W̙̖̳̪͚͊̀ͫ̇̌e̻͇̼̖̞͊͑ͧ͢ ҉͚͎̺̠̘Hͤ͗̓̓̄a̻̣̥̹ͣ̐̽̓͑̉̕t̢̗̯̥̬̗͆ͨ̈e̹̪̠̪̺ͅ ̵͍̗͔̼̙̪͙̿̒̓͒͂Y̙̭̤̞̣͙ǒ̰̹̘̣̫̞̱͒̈̽͂͗u͈̙̟͖̩)̟͖͓͗ͪ**

And with those 'words', the sea **_bled_** down into Earth, from every single tear in Reality.

Animals cried and ran, even as Humanity started to scream as one…

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** _You felt your sins crawling on your back_ *Megalovania Intensifies* _Earth is gonna have a bad time._

…okay, that's enough of creepy Undertale quotes! So…yeah. It finally happened. Shit got real, Waryum's old prediction came true, all hell has broken loose…I don't think I need to say anything else or, more like, I just won't. Next chapter will speak for itself. We're at the Endgame now (Pun intended).

It's hard to believe this little thing that started as an April's Fools' Joke has come so far, that we're almost at the end…next time, which should be pretty soon, a short Interlude "[Hate] Incarnate", showing Kazuto's point of view during those last minutes there and forward, then the 'last chapter' showing everyone else and the 'conclusion'. And because the poll has spoken, it will all be updated continuously, no swapping to my other fics until this is over.

Now then, I leave you with today's Omake! Funnily enough, though, it's not as lighthearted as usual just when the story probably needed it the most…oh well, enjoy?

* * *

 **Lusus+Vampire 14: Sister of Chaos**

The creature that called herself Mirai was in a bad mood.

Then again, given it had been around a human week since she had basically been 'on standby', completely derailing her initial plans of finding her brother and breaking free from the control of the 6-eyed ones, that was more than understandable. Even if the circumstances _had_ forced her to comply.

She still wasn't sure of what the mysterious 'man' dressed up as a bus driver was supposed to be, but one thing that was undeniable was that he could kill her, easily. Somehow, the creature posing as a human, like she was, was so undeniably strong that he could crush her like a bug, even if she had access to all her biomass back when she first encountered him.

There was no need for the Tryums screaming on her head like headless chickens about 'energy readings off-the-scale' and such. Her very own instincts, that had never doubted in let her jump tendrils-first towards Omega Predators just to protect her brother, were telling her it was hopeless to even try to antagonize the thing.

The alien experiment certainly blamed her newly acquired human DNA that she froze and didn't even dare to blink as he laughed and nonchalantly walked past her, knocked on the house she had been planning on storming and delivered a letter to a black-haired girl that had her brother's faded scent all over her (Which greatly annoyed her). The human had thanked the 'Bus Driver' before giving her a weird look, shrugged and closed the door. Then, the 'man' had turned around and ordered her to follow him.

Even if the Tryums hadn't been screaming on her head for her to obey while they moved the ship to her location, she would have done so. Getting into the primitive and shockingly simple, for a creature of such power, bus had been weird, especially as they drove off the city, towards a forest road and a secluded area, where the 'man' had gotten off the bus, lit a cigar and told her that she could make those following them come out.

To his credit, the Bus Driver had only shortly stopped smoking and lifted an eyebrow when the Tryum ship became visible and several members of the crew teleported around them, aiming their Proto-Devices at him. The two idiots in charge, Ubom and Grotek, had even brought their Omni-Devices loaded and ready to fire towards the 'man' at the smallest hint of aggression, but Mirai knew it was all futile.

If the creature before them really tried, they would all be dead before they could even think about it. Even with their tech backing her up, the…monster would have still crushed them all. At best, if she had her whole biomass at hand, she would have been able to delay it while they made a run for it. Not that she would ever do that unless they forced her, of course.

Surprisingly, the mysterious creature had been amazingly reasonable. Perhaps because he _knew_ how powerless they were against him or because he was just that chill, he had casually asked what they wanted and how they were related to 'Kirigaya Kazuto'.

What had followed had been a long-winded explanation from both parts, which had led to quite a bit of shock and surprises for aliens and Bus Driver.

Apparently, there was a whole load of other intelligent species living on Earth, hidden from the humans and, as much as they could, living peacefully amongst them. What they lacked in numbers the technological development humanity had reached (Even if still primitive by Tryum Standards) they made up for it in power, apparently.

When a nervous Grotek had asked the man if all members of these hidden races were as strong as him, he had denied it with amusement, saying that he was 'one of a few special cases' and that 'the 3 younglings' had probably been better at it than him during their prime.

That was of little comfort to Mirai, though, and certainly for the Tryums too. That just one of these beings was strong enough to probably easily counteract anything short of an orbital attack was more than chilling for them.

The fact that, apparently, X-K0940 had somehow developed human-like intelligence and feelings, if the Bus Driver was to be believed, and was currently attending a school specifically meant to have said species learn how to coexist with humans had complicated things even more. Especially as the absurdly strong creature calmly talking to them was part of said school's staff, and didn't really seem willing to just let them 'take him back to their planet'.

After a relatively short discussion, the Tryums had retired to deliberate and finally decided they would talk with the so-called 'headmaster' of this school to try and arrive at an agreement about the fate of their 'escaped experiment'. Mirai, for her part, was just very eager to find her brother, but now was very worried she wouldn't have the power to free him as she wanted.

However, if she could get him to devour one of these creatures and absorb their power into himself, then…

In the end, that was what had led to 'X-K0941' to be standing with bored annoyance in the middle of the forests of 'Youkai Academy', while Ubom and Grotek were escorted by the Bus Driver to talk with the headmaster. It had been agreed that she would 'stand guard' for them there, but she knew that they just wanted to keep her away from the 'students' as she was technically 'extremely dangerous'.

Bored out of her mind and playing with the edge of her human clothes, idly thinking of how the 6-eyed fools had bothered to keep them clean for her (Even if she didn't really need them and could just suppress/consume any human physical secretion that would make them smell bad), she had seen something that had taken her mind off her fantasies about finding her brother and murdering all the annoyances in their way.

Two males in the distance, talking about something she was perfectly able to hear thanks to her enhanced hearing. The silver-haired one with a weird case of heterochromia seemed to be saying something about their 'plans' with the tall, dark-haired and bespectacled one, who he called 'leader'.

Honestly, Mirai would normally have completely ignored them and continued her bored wait if it hadn't been for two facts: One, they both had a weird 'smell' about them, ancient and feeling like putrid blood, clearly way older than their own natural smell. Most importantly, though, she could perceive _her brother's scent_ around the bespectacled one.

That's when she vaguely noticed the pink-haired girl running away from the area, idly noticing that she _also_ smelled of her brother (Much strongly, even). She actually would have gone after her if she hadn't heard the other two talking about 'taking advantage of Kirigaya Kazuto', which she had been told was her brother's 'human name'.

So, in light of that, she did the sensible thing of waiting a few minutes until the bespectacled one was gone and then, once he saw him starting to head towards the academy, boldly follow and step into the path of the one with green/red eyes.

"…well then, what do we have here?" questioned Yoshii Kiria with clear amusement upon seeing the white-haired young girl in a kimono standing before him, her red eyes looking silently at him. "I could have sworn it was only Akashiya Moka who had spied on us before, so where did you come from, little one?"

"…leave my brother alone."

"Your bro…? Wait, are you the little sister Kirigaya Kazuto is always talking about?! Oh, this is rich! What are the odds of you somehow appearing here the day Hokuto's plan will become a reality?" laughing openly, the young man let a grin that somehow seemed to ooze malice appear on his face as his arm turned into a massive and deadly-looking 'blade'. "Now then, come with me without resistance if you don't want to get hurt, little girl~"

For a second, Mirai regarded the mutated limb with a deadpanning look. Then, slowly, she looked back to Kiria, even as her Programmed Protocol allowed her to recognize a 'threat' and react accordingly.

Screams quickly ensued.

Meanwhile, Kaneshiro Hokuto had been having a good day. So far, he had been able to completely trick Kirigaya Kazuto (The biggest threat to his ambition besides the headmaster himself) into believing he was a friendly and nice person, and the plans of his ANTI-THESIS had finally come to fruition. The looks on the members of the School Festival's Committee when their dear president systematically destroyed every single one of them had been almost amusing, if he could allow himself to feel such a thing at this point. He was almost finished brutally ending the last of them at that moment, actually.

Soon, that damned school would be destroyed, and nothing would stand in the way of…!

The closest wall EXPLODED, peppering the half-dead or dying Youkai inside with pieces of debris, Hokuto himself receiving some nasty chunks. Shocked, he turned around…and his blood ran cold, seeing a mangled and half-eaten body staring up at him from where the wall had been.

"Ho…kuto…run…she's a…monster…!" croaked Kiria before the black tendrils holding his half-devoured form bit off his head, then proceeded to tear what remained of him apart as they greedily ate him.

Casually, Mirai dragged herself into the room, the dark tentacles growing from her still-mostly-human form as she regarded the scene of carnage without care until her nightmarish alien eyes fell upon the paralyzed bespectacled young man.

"So you're this…Hokuto he wouldn't shut up about." casually commented the white-haired 'girl' as she became aware of a weirdly tingling sensation within her, starting from the point where she had started to 'digest' Kiria. "I managed to make him tell me a lot of things, most of which made no sense to me, but…you trying to manipulate my brother for your goals was quite upsetting to hear. I will be killing you know, before the 6-eyed fools finish talking with this 'headmaster' of yours."

"Yo-you…YOU MONSTER!" roared Hokuto as he tore off a strange 'lock' around his left forearm with utter rage, his body 'blossoming' sinisterly into a large multi-limbed beast of skeletal proportions, towering over Mirai as his now monstrous eyes stared down at the unimpressed alien abomination. "I WILL END…!"

A myriad of tendrils faster than bullets shot forward, tearing through the chimera's unholy strong limbs and 'blades' as if they were made of paper. During the last seconds of his life, all that Kaneshiro Hokuto could feel was utter horror and shock at the 'impossibility'.

Then, his broken body was devoured at a demonic rate.

Once she was done, Mirai scowled in distaste at the mess her clothes had been left in, having somewhat gotten attached to them by this point. Idly looking around, she wondered if she should eat the corpses and half-dead 'Youkai' that were also there…before she felt a weird 'spasm' overtaking her.

Strange…it felt as if her blood was boiling. As if something strange and unknown was trying to emerge from within her, like some ancient beast and unknown presence were trying to take over her mind and devour her whole. If she had been able to look at her reflection at that moment, the white-haired 'girl' would have seen how her eyes suddenly turned into blood-red slits, the form of a hungry creature higher than skyscrapers echoing into her mind from some faraway place, trying to force her to obey…

And Mirai easily shrugged it off with a fast shake of her head, eyes returning to their 'normal' alien look, growling as she felt a headache and retracted most of her tentacles, idly wondering why she suddenly felt so fucking _thirsty_ and the blood lying around seemed so appealing.

Also, was it her or she was no longer hearing the Tryums voices in her head? Huh, that was weird…she hadn't tried to break the Programmed Protocol just ye…

"Hokuto-san, we have come to stop you! Your evil plans end now!" shouted Kirigaya Kazuto as he burst through the door of the committee's room, only to freeze and gap in shock at the bloody destruction before his eyes, his friends behind him freezing and more than one turning green or looking horrified. "What the…?!"

Idly, the white-haired girl covered in blood, with black _and silver_ tendrils flapping around her, turned around, blinking at the Newspaper Club (Plus Rubi), her gaze fixing straight into the black-haired boy.

"Bro…!"

"HYPERBEAM!" screamed the Lusus Naturae as he let his right arm fly forward, transform into an odd mass of tendrils and antennae, and release a beam of concentrated energy, which engulfed Mirai, gave her a nice tan, flash-fried her tentacles and knocked her out instantly as she flew through several walls and crashed into the forest. "…man, I'm glad being in this school has taught me overkill can be useful…"

"…did that girl have the same eyes as you, Kazuto-san?" asked Yukari with wide eyes as she looked at where she had gone flying.

"Huh…I honestly didn't realize, I kind of freaked out seeing she apparently murdered most of the Committee…ah! Wa-wait, I may be able to heal them if they're not totally dead yet! Monsters are way tougher than humans, after all!"

"Tha-that's great, Kazuto, but I think we should also call the teachers ASAP. Also…where is Hokuto?!"

"No idea…I can't feel him anywhere nearby…maybe that girl is one of his lackeys and he ran while we dealt with her?! We gotta tell the headmaster!"

"I will go and freeze her while she's knocked out. Kurumu, you're the only one besides Kazuto that can fly, could you…?"

"On it, ice girl! Kazuto dear, I will be right back, don't worry!"

"I-I will go with Mizore-san and make sure that girl doesn't wake up with one of my spells around her ice…we don't want to risk her running away too."

"…honestly, does any of you even know why we bother coming along with Kazuto on these things anymore? He, like, takes care of it all by himself before we can even transform most of the time…"

 _"Shut up, Ginei."_ growled Inner Moka from within her rosary, despite inwardly agreeing with the werewolf.

Suffice to say that, when the headmaster and two Tryum High-Researchers arrived later, they found quite a surprisingly messy scene.

Also, Kazuto was in for yet another big shock that night…

"Di-did I almost kill my long-lost unknown evil sister?!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes 2:** How to murder the plot, Yandere Sister Edition. Or, how much Alucard Chimeras actually suck when it comes to power-level despite seeming so tough for most of the series…at least when compared with Mirai-chan :3

So, yeah, here, as you see, the R+V plot changes things A LOT, in several ways. Regardless of the already titanic changes Mirai's actions have caused on said plot, the opposite is also true: The Youkai Society combined with no 'big event' to show Kazuto's true nature as a deterrent actually forcing the Tryums to 'be nice', and also Mr. Kaiju Vampire trying to take over Mirai's body completely screwing over he 'mental connection' which in the main story let Kazuto 'know' more or less what she was and froze him in place when they first met there. Here…well, he has gone through enough shit in Youkai Academy to know that unleashing anime-based attack first and ask questions later are usually the best course of action. Also, without most of her biomass, emotional weight throwing him off and not trying to fight her directly combined with the vampire blood having caused her biology to go whacky, Little Sis-chan was _very_ nerfed compared to when they clashed in Canon XP

But hey, at least everyone is going to have a happy ending? Like, there is no way that having let Alucard in Mirai's head, even if for a little while, is going to come back to bite anyone in the ass, right…?

Oh, and if anyone cares: Power-wise, the Three Dark Lords and those close to them in power from R+V could effortlessly stomp anything the Tryums could deploy on the ground and/or shrug off most of the things their tech do, even Mirai, because of how dense their Youki is (Lusus-kun is an exception because, well, you know what he's capable of). Of course, the Tryums can still just blow up the planet and they would all be pretty fucked no matter how strong they are, but they didn't resort to that here because, as mentioned before, they had no scenario where they saw Kazuto is actually a danger that could threaten the whole planet and beyond :3

Anyway, seeya next time! This is Saint, signing off!


End file.
